relation; connection, esp. harmonious or sympathetic relation: a teacher trying to establish close rapport with students.
Origin: 1530–40; < F, deriv. of rapporter to bring back, report, equiv. to r(e-) re-+ apporter (OF aporter < L apportāre, equiv. to ap-ap-1+ portāre to carry; see port5)
rap·port (rā-pôr', -pōr', rə-) n. Relationship, especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity.
[French, from Old French, from raporter, to bring back : re-, re- + aporter, to bring (from Latin apportāre : ad-, ad- + portāre, to carry; see per-2 in Indo-European roots).]
1661, "reference, relationship," from Fr. rapport, back-formation from rapporter "bring back," from re- "again" + apporter "to bring," from L. apportare "to bring," from ad- "to" + portare "to carry" (see port (1)). Psychological meaning "intense harmonious accord," as between therapist and patient, is first attested 1894, though the word had been used in a very similar sense with ref. to mesmerism from 1845 (first recorded in E.A. Poe).
Main Entry: rap·port Pronunciation: ra-'po(&)r, r&- Function: noun 1: relation characterized by harmony, conformity, accord, oraffinity 2: confidence of a subject in the operator (as in hypnotism, psychotherapy, or mental testing) with willingness to cooperate rapport —C. A. H. Watts>