noun

1. a state of altered consciousness, somewhat resembling sleep, during which voluntary movement is lost, as in hypnosis
2. a stunned condition; daze; stupor
3. a condition of great mental concentration or abstraction, esp. one induced by religious fervor or mysticism
4. in spiritualistic belief, a condition in which a medium passes under the control of some external force, as for the transmission of communications from the dead during a séance

Etymology: ME < OFr transe, great anxiety, fear < transir, to perish < L transire, to die, lit., go across: see transit

transitive verb tranced, trancing tranc′·ing