Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To assume a standing position after lying, sitting, or kneeling.
  • intransitive verb To get out of bed.
  • intransitive verb To move from a lower to a higher position; ascend.
  • intransitive verb To increase in size, volume, or level.
  • intransitive verb To increase in number, amount, or value.
  • intransitive verb To increase in intensity, force, or speed.
  • intransitive verb To increase in pitch or volume.
  • intransitive verb To ascend above the horizon.
  • intransitive verb To extend upward; be prominent.
  • intransitive verb To slant or slope upward.
  • intransitive verb To come into existence; originate.
  • intransitive verb To be erected.
  • intransitive verb To appear at the surface of the water or the earth; emerge.
  • intransitive verb To puff up or become larger; swell up.
  • intransitive verb To become stiff and erect.
  • intransitive verb To attain a higher status.
  • intransitive verb To become apparent to the mind or senses.
  • intransitive verb To uplift oneself to meet a demand or challenge.
  • intransitive verb To return to life.
  • intransitive verb To rebel.
  • intransitive verb To close a session of an official assembly; adjourn.
  • intransitive verb To cause to rise.
  • intransitive verb To cause (a distant object at sea) to become visible above the horizon by advancing closer.
  • noun The act of rising; an ascent.
  • noun The degree of elevation or ascent.
  • noun The first appearance of a celestial object as it ascends above the horizon.
  • noun An increase in height, as of the level of water.
  • noun A gently sloped hill.
  • noun A long broad elevation that slopes gently from the earth's surface or the ocean floor.
  • noun An origin, beginning, or source.
  • noun Occasion or opportunity.
  • noun The emergence of a fish seeking food or bait at the water's surface.
  • noun An increase in price, worth, quantity, or degree.
  • noun An increase in intensity, volume, or pitch.
  • noun Elevation in status, prosperity, or importance.
  • noun The height of a flight of stairs or of a single riser.
  • noun Chiefly British An increase in salary or wages; a raise.
  • noun Informal An angry or irritated reaction.
  • noun The distance between the crotch and waistband in pants, shorts, or underwear.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In base-ball, a peculiar delivery of the ball which makes it rise so that the tendency of the batsman is to strike under it.
  • noun The difference in diameter, or taper, between two points in a log.
  • To move or pass from a lower position to a higher; move upward; ascend; mount up: as, a bird rises in the air; a fog rises from the river; the mercury rises in the thermometer (or, as commonly expressed, the thermometer rises).
  • Specifically, to change from a lying, sitting, or kneeling posture to a standing one; stand up; assume an upright position: as, to rise from a chair; to rise after a fall.
  • Hence— To bring a sitting or a session to an end: as, the house rose at midnight.
  • To get up from bed.
  • To grow or stretch upward; attain an altitude or stature; stand in height: as, the tower rises to the height of 60 feet.
  • To swell upward.
  • To swell or puff up, as dough in the process of fermentation.
  • To slope or extend upward; have an upward direction: as, a line, a path, or a surface rises gradually or abruptly.
  • To appear above the horizon; move from below the horizon to above it, in consequence of the earth's diurnal rotation; hence, to move from an invisible to a visible position.

Etymologies

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

[Middle English risen, from Old English rīsan; see er- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English risen, from Old English rīsan ("to rise, stand up, rise together, be fit, be fitting, be becoming, be proper"), from Proto-Germanic *rīsanan (“to rise, move vertically up or down, go”), from Proto-Indo-European *rei- (“to rise, arise”). Cognate with Eastern Frisian risa ("to arise"), Dutch rijzen ("to rise, ascend, lift"), Low German risen ("to rise or fall"), German dialectal reisen ("to fall"), Icelandic rísa ("to rise"). Related also to German reisen ("to travel, fare"), Dutch reizen ("to travel"), Danish rejse ("to travel"), Swedish resa ("to travel"). Non Germanic cognates include Albanian rris ("I raise, grow") and Russian рость (rast, "growth"). See also raise.

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Examples

  • _That the sun will not rise to-morrow_, is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction, than the affirmation, _that it will rise_.

    Hume (English Men of Letters Series) Thomas Henry Huxley 1860

  • _That the sun will not rise to-morrow_ is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction than the affirmation, _that it will rise_.

    An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding David Hume 1743

  • It might also have been acute demoralisation at seeing Mr McCain rise from the grave, and Mr Huckabee come from nowhere; and knowing that they had been enabled to do this only by the new mediocrity of the Giuliani campaign.

    Archive 2008-01-01 2008

  • The only thing standing in the way of this rise is the fact that the Whitneys need the signatures of 433,971 voters — and then half the votes on the referendum in the fall.

    Will voters swallow seven buck Chuck? CA ballot initiative | Dr Vino's wine blog 2010

  • The only thing standing in the way of this rise is the fact that the Whitneys need the signatures of 433,971 voters — and then half the votes on the referendum in the fall.

    2010 March | Dr Vino's wine blog 2010

  • The reason you see a rise is the number that support the bill is because the far left Democrats are resigning themselves to the fact that it isn't going to be as liberal as they like and want to have a Democratic victory on Health Care, so they are rallying behind it now that its in the home stretch.

    CNN Poll: 6 point jump in support for health care bill 2009

  • "So, in a nutshell, rising condo prices are a trend, sort of a paradigm shift, and I discount the idea that their rise is a cyclical phenomonon, and that prices are set up for a fall."

    High-Beta Houses, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • So, in a nutshell, rising condo prices are a trend, sort of a paradigm shift, and I discount the idea that their rise is a cyclical phenomonon, and that prices are set up for a fall.

    High-Beta Houses, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • Another program that may be on the rise is the one at the University of Washington; last October, it was promised a $15 million donation in the will of philanthropist Grace Pollock.

    Where Great Writers are Made 2007

  • Another program that may be on the rise is the one at the University of Washington; last October, it was promised a $15 million donation in the will of philanthropist Grace Pollock.

    Where Great Writers are Made 2007

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