I. ˈtran(t)s, -raa(ə)n-, -rain-, -rȧn- verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English transen to die, swoon, be in fear, from Middle French transir — more at trance II
intransitive verb
obsolete : to be in great suspense or extreme fear
transitive verb
[ trance (II) ]
1. : to hold (as a person) benumbed, immobile, or unnaturally still
her heart was clutched by a grip of ice, and she went as one tranced — C.G.D.Roberts
a dead hot silence tranced sea, land, and sky — R.H.Horne
2. : entrance , enrapture
a romance … held me rapt through may a tranced hour — R.M.Bell
ever the fiery Pentecost … trances the heart through chanting hours and through the priest the mind inspires — R.W.Emerson
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English traunce, trance, from Middle French transe, from transir to pass, pass away, die, swoon, be in fear, from Latin transire to pass, pass away — more at transient
1. : a state of partly suspended animation or of inability to function — daze, stupor
in a calm trance , like a dead person, she crossed the street — Mary McCarthy
lay stone-still in a trance of terror and mournfulness — George Meredith
the neigh of some horse … loud and sudden, that had burst the shell of my trance , causing thought to start to life again — Owen Wister
2. : a somnolent state such as that of deep hypnosis appearing also in hysteria and in some spiritualistic mediums and characterized by limited sensory and motor contact with the surroundings and subsequent lack of recall
fell into … a light kind of trance that, he explains, is the first stage of hypnosis — Vance Packard
in trance they divine auspicious times for various tasks — African Abstracts
3. : a state of profound abstraction or absorption accompanied by exaltation
went into a trance closely resembling religious rapture — R.G.Hubler
would work himself into a condition of ecstasy which resembled a trance … would fall down, and foam would break out on his lips — Maurice Samuel
III. ˈtrans intransitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English trauncen
dialect Britain : to pass or travel over the ground : to move briskly : prance
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: perhaps short for transit (I)
chiefly Scotland : passage , passageway