Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
TRANCE. , Num 24:4, Ex 17:16, and in both instances is supplied by the translators, and not found in the original. V. T. it occurs three times. Acts 10:10; Neh 11:5; Gen 22:17. " Mark 5:42; Luke 5:26. The word etymologically denotes a state of mind in which external objects are entirely unnoticed and forgotten, and the soul seems for the time to have passed out of the body, and to be occupied in purely spiritual contemplations. This state may sometimes be the effect of natural causes; but in the case of Peter there was an interposition of supernatural power.