1. forcing of somebody into sex: the crime of using force somebody to have sexual intercourse with somebody
2. instance of rape: an instance of the crime of rape
3. violent destructive treatment: the violent, destructive, or abusive treatment of something the rape of a beautiful stretch of countryside
4. abduction: an act of seizing somebody and carrying him or her away by force
(
archaic
)
transitive verb (past and past participleraped, present participlerap·ing, 3rd person present singularrapes)
Definition:
1. force somebody to have sex: to force somebody to have sexual intercourse
2. violate something: to treat something in a violent, destructive, or abusive way rape the land for its resources
[14th century. Via Anglo-Norman< Latin rapere "seize"]
Word History
The Latin word rapere "to seize," from which rape is derived, is also the source of English rapacious, rapid, rapine, rapture, ravage, raven1, ravine, ravish, surreptitious, and usurp.
