Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To move to a higher position; elevate: synonym: lift.
  • intransitive verb To set in an upright or erect position.
  • intransitive verb To erect or build.
  • intransitive verb To cause to arise, appear, or exist.
  • intransitive verb To increase in size, quantity, or worth.
  • intransitive verb To increase in intensity, degree, strength, or pitch.
  • intransitive verb To improve in rank or dignity; promote.
  • intransitive verb To grow, especially in quantity; cultivate.
  • intransitive verb To breed and care for to maturity.
  • intransitive verb To bring up; rear.
  • intransitive verb To accustom to something from an early age.
  • intransitive verb To put forward for consideration: synonym: broach.
  • intransitive verb To voice; utter.
  • intransitive verb To awaken; arouse.
  • intransitive verb To stir up; instigate.
  • intransitive verb To bring about; provoke.
  • intransitive verb To make contact with by radio.
  • intransitive verb To gather together; collect.
  • intransitive verb To cause (dough) to puff up.
  • intransitive verb To end (a siege) by withdrawing troops or forcing the enemy troops to withdraw.
  • intransitive verb To remove or withdraw (an order).
  • intransitive verb To increase (a poker bet).
  • intransitive verb To bet more than (a preceding bettor in poker).
  • intransitive verb To increase the bid of (one's bridge partner).
  • intransitive verb Nautical To bring into sight by approaching nearer.
  • intransitive verb To alter and increase fraudulently the written value of (a check, for example).
  • intransitive verb To cough up (phlegm).
  • intransitive verb Scots To make angry; enrage.
  • intransitive verb To increase a poker bet or a bridge bid.
  • noun The act of raising or increasing.
  • noun An increase in salary.
  • idiom (Cain/the devil) /hell) To behave in a rowdy or disruptive fashion.
  • idiom (Cain/the devil) /hell) To reprimand someone angrily.
  • idiom (raise eyebrows) To cause surprise or mild disapproval.
  • idiom (raise the stakes) To increase one's commitment or involvement.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To lift or bring up bodily in space; move to a higher place; carry or cause to be carried upward or aloft; hoist: as, to raise one's hand or head; to raise ore from a mine; to raise a flag to the masthead.
  • To make upright or erect; cause to stand by lifting; elevate on a base or support; stand or set up: as, to raise a mast or pole; to raise the frame of a building; to raise a fallen man.
  • To elevate in position or upward reach; increase the height of; build up, fill, or embank; make higher: as, to raise a building by adding a garret or loft; to raise the bed of a road; the flood raised the river above its banks.
  • To make higher or more elevated in state, condition, estimation, amount, or degree; cause to rise in grade, rank, or value; heighten, exalt, advance, enhance, increase, or intensify: as, to raise a man to higher office; to raise one's reputation; to raise the temperature; to raise prices; to raise the tariff.
  • To estimate as of importance; cry up; hence, to applaud; extol.
  • To form as a piled-up mass, or by upward accretion; erect above a base or foundation; build or heap up: as, to raise a cathedral, a monument, or a mound; an island in the sea. raised by volcanic action.
  • To lift off or away; remove by or as if by lifting: take off, as something put on or imposed: as, to raise a blockade.
  • To cause to rise in sound; lift up the voice in; especially, to utter in high or loud tones.
  • They both, as with one accord, raised a dismal cry.
  • To cause to rise in air or water; cause to move in an upward direction: as, to raise a kite; to raise a wreck.
  • To cause to rise from an inert or lifeless condition; specifically, to cause to rise from death or the grave; reanimate: as, to raise the dead.
  • To cause to rise above the visible horizon, or to the level of observation; bring into view; sight, as by approach: chiefly a nautical use: as, to raise the land by sailing toward it.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English raisen, from Old Norse reisa; see er- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English raisen, reisen, from Old Norse reisa ("to raise"), from Proto-Germanic *raisijanan, *raizijanan (“to raise”), causative form of Proto-Germanic *rīsanan (“to rise”), from Proto-Indo-European *rei- (“to rise, arise”). Cognate with Old English rāsian ("to explore, examine, research"), Old English rīsan ("to seize, carry off"), Old English rǣran ("to cause to rise, raise, rear, build, create"). More at rear.

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Examples

  • For, first, she desires if she can -- and she has often been able -- actually to raise these, first to sanctity and then to her own altars; it is for her and her only to _raise the poor from the dunghill and to set them with the princes_.

    Paradoxes of Catholicism Robert Hugh Benson 1892

  • A few hands later, I got KT suited on the button and I called a raise from the shorty I had targeted who had opened from middle position, and the small blind also called directly behind me.

    Hammer Player's Poker Blog Hammer Player a.k.a Hoyazo 2010

  • Randy Leonard's acceptance of the raise is a deliberate middle finger to his critics.

    Recession? What recession? (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

  • A great time to ask for a raise is after your boss has praised you for something.

    USATODAY.com - How to get your first raise 2002

  • Avoiding a default would almost certainly involve swallowing a proposed short term raise of the debt ceiling, coupled with spending cuts, followed by a more comprehensive budget and tax reform package to set the nation's fiscal house in order.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • Ron Lieber at the New York Times has pared away the extraneous bits and created a "primer for young people starting their first job," including helpful advice like why it's important to get health insurance, how to fill out your W-4, and why it's good to take advantage of the built-in "raise" that comes from a company-matching 401 (k).

    The Basics Of Insurance, Taxes, And 401(k)s For First-Time Employees - The Consumerist 2008

  • To "raise" is Annandale for "achieve the finance of" (by effort muster the price of, - I have also heard them call it "string," "strung," evidently the German/strugend/).

    New Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle 1893

  • One question that many, many women raise is why so many healthcare plans stint on things like birth control and preventative care, while paying for erectile dysfunction drugs and expensive heart procedures for older white males?

    Another Failure of the Market System? « L.E. Modesitt, Jr. – The Official Website 2009

  • One question that many, many women raise is why so many healthcare plans stint on things like birth control and preventative care, while paying for erectile dysfunction drugs and expensive heart procedures for older white males?

    August « 2009 « L.E. Modesitt, Jr. – The Official Website 2009

  • This will doubtless again raise questions about Franco's sexuality -- he played Harvey Milk's lover in "Milk" and will play poet Allen Ginsberg in the upcoming "Howl."

    James Franco in drag on the cover of Candy magazine Liz Kelly 2010

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