English
raise
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English reysen, raisen, reisen, from Old Norse reisa, from Proto-Germanic *raisijaną, *raizijaną ("to raise"), causative form of Proto-Germanic *rīsaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey-.

Cognate with Old English rāsian, Old English rīsan, Old English rǣran. Doublet of rear.

Verb

raise (raises, present participle raising; simple past and past participle raised)

  1. (physical) To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.
    to raise your hand if you want to say something; to raise your walking stick to defend yourself
    1. To form by the accumulation of materials or constituent parts; to build up; to erect.
      to raise a wall, or a heap of stones
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Isaiah xxxix:3 ↗:
        I will raise forts against thee.
    2. To cause something to come to the surface of water.
      The ship was raised ten years after it had sunk.
    3. (nautical) To cause (the land or any other object) to seem higher by drawing nearer to it.
      to raise Sandy Hook light
    4. To make (bread, etc.) light, as by yeast or leaven.
    5. (figurative) To cause (a dead person) to live again; to resurrect.
      The magic spell raised the dead from their graves!
    6. (military) To remove or break up (a blockade), either by withdrawing the ships or forces employed in enforcing it, or by driving them away or dispersing them.
    7. (military, transitive) To relinquish (a siege), or cause this to be done.
    8. (metalworking, transitive) To emboss (sheet metal), or to form it into cup-shaped or hollow articles, by hammering, stamping or spinning.
  2. (transitive) To create, increase or develop.
    We need to raise the motivation level in the company.
    to raise the quality of the products; to raise the price of goods; to raise (increase) taxes
    1. To collect or amass.
      to raise a lot of money for charity; to raise troops
    2. (obsolete) To call up the forces of, to raise the troops from.
      • 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act III ↗:
        May it pleaſe your Grace that I ſhall raiſe the ſtreets,
        To Gard your Maieſtie through Smithfield as you walke.
    3. To bring up; to grow.
      We visited a farm where they raise chickens.
      Chew with your mouth shut — were you raised in a barn?
    4. To promote.
      to raise somebody to office
    5. To mention (a question, issue) for discussion.
      A few important questions were raised after the attack.
    6. (legal) To create; to constitute (a use, or a beneficial interest in property).
      There should be some consideration (i.e., payment or exchange) to raise a use.
    7. To bring into being; to produce; to cause to arise, come forth, or appear.
      Starting in January we will raise (introduce) taxes on all tobacco substitutes and vaping accessories.
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Deuteronomy xviii:18 ↗:
        I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee.
      • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
        God voutsafes to raise another World From him [Noah], and all his anger to forget.
      • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC ↗:
        The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. […] Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?
  3. To establish contact with (e.g., by telephone or radio).
    Despite all the call congestion, she was eventually able to raise the police.
  4. (poker, intransitive) To respond to a bet by increasing the amount required to continue in the hand.
    John bet, and Julie raised, requiring John to put in more money.
  5. (arithmetic) To exponentiate, to involute.
    Two raised to the fifth power equals 32.
  6. (linguistics, transitive, of a verb) To extract (a subject or other verb argument) out of an inner clause.
  7. (linguistics, transitive, of a vowel) To produce a vowel with the tongue positioned closer to the roof of the mouth.
  8. To increase the nominal value of (a cheque, money order, etc.) by fraudulently changing the writing or printing in which the sum payable is specified.
  9. (programming, transitive) To instantiate and transmit (an exception, by throwing it, or an event).
    A division by zero will raise an exception.
    • 2007, Bruce Bukovics, Pro WF: Windows Workflow in .NET 3.0, page 243:
      Provide some mechanism in the local service class to raise the event. This might take the form of a public method that the host application can invoke to raise the event.
  10. (India, transitive) To open, initiate.
    I will raise a trouble-ticket in order to correct this reporting issue.
Synonyms
  • (to cause to rise) lift
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

raise (plural raises)

  1. (US) Ellipsis of pay raise: an increase in wages or salary.
    The boss gave me a raise.
  2. (curling) A shot in which the delivered stone bumps another stone forward.
  3. (poker) A bet that increases the previous bet.
  4. (mining) A shaft or a winze that is dug from below, for purposes such as ventilation, local extraction of ore, or exploration.
    • 1944 United States. Bureau of Mines • War Minerals Report 386. Google books
      It was necessary to spile through the vug, as it was filled with mud. A raise was driven 55 feet to the surface in this vug for ventilation, and it was completed just as the demand for optical calcite ceased. The underground drifts were left well timbered, and mining of this deposit could be started with very little preliminary work.
  5. (weightlifting) A shoulder exercise in which the arms are elevated against resistance.
Synonyms Translations Translations Noun

raise (plural raises)

  1. A cairn or pile of stones.


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