Word of the day: Ecstasy

Ecstasy
- noun

Pronunciation:
[EK-stuh-see]

Definition:
1. rapturous delight.
2. an overpowering emotion or exaltation; a state of sudden, intense feeling.
3. the frenzy of poetic inspiration.

Etymology:
late 14c., "in a frenzy or stupor, fearful, excited," from O.Fr. estaise "ecstasy, rapture," from L.L. extasis, from Gk. ekstasis "entrancement, astonishment; any displacement," in NT "a trance," from existanai "displace, put out of place," also "drive out of one's mind" (existanai phrenon), from ek "out" (see ex-) + histanai "to place, cause to stand," from PIE base *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Used by 17c. mystical writers for "a state of rapture that stupefied the body while the soul contemplated divine things," which probably helped the meaning shift to "exalted state of good feeling" (1610s). Slang use for the drug 3,4-methylendioxymethamphetamine dates from 1985.

Quote with the word:
"Better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy"
-William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Macbeth, in Macbeth, act 3, sc. 2, l. 19-22.