Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ecstasy (-'s, ecstasies, extacies, extasy), n. [OFr < L. < Gk 'to put out of place'.] (webplay: leave).

1. Fit; catalepsy; convulsion; paroxysm; seizure; [fig.] crisis; excessive suffering; [antithesis] trance; rapture; transport; fixed state; separation of the body and the spirit; [Webster 1844] “state in which the functions of the senses are suspended by the contemplation of some extraordinary or supernatural object.”
2. Pleasure; rapture; intense emotion; delight that arrests the whole mind; state of being beside oneself with joy.
3. Distraction; enthusiasm; ebullience; exuberance; outpouring; [fig.] show; exhibition; performance; recital; spectacle.
4. Elevation of mind; contemplation of the extraordinary; [fig.] poetry.