All 4 Uses of
ecstasy
in
Oliver Twist
- Is that you, Mr. Bumble, sir?' said Mrs. Mann, thrusting her head out of the window in well-affected ecstasies of joy.†
Chpt 2 *
- But the number of workhouse inmates got thin as well as the paupers; and the board were in ecstasies.†
Chpt 2
- ha!' roared Mr. Claypole, kicking up his legs in an ecstasy.†
Chpt 42
- Some called for ladders, some for sledge-hammers; some ran with torches to and fro as if to seek them, and still came back and roared again; some spent their breath in impotent curses and execrations; some pressed forward with the ecstasy of madmen, and thus impeded the progress of those below; some among the boldest attempted to climb up by the water-spout and crevices in the wall; and all waved to and fro, in the darkness beneath, like a field of corn moved by an angry wind: and joined from time to time in one loud furious roar.†
Chpt 50
Definitions:
-
(1)
(ecstasy as in: ecstasy of love) a state of intense happiness
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, ecstasy is used as the street name of an illegal drug known to produce feelings of euphoria, but associated with damage of the central nervous system.
Still more rarely, ecstasy can reference a trance, frenzy, or altered state of consciousness marked by overwhelming emotion -- especially joy from a religious experience.