Raise (rāz), v. t.

(rāz), v. t. [imp. & p. p. RAISED; p. pr. & vb. n. RAISING.] [A-S. rāsian, ārāsian, from rīsan, ārīsan, to rise, Goth. raisjan, urraisjan, to raise, rouse, excite, Dan. reise, Sw. resa, Icel. reisa. Cf. RISE and ROUSE.]

1Sense 1. To cause to rise; to bring from a lower to a higher place; to lift upward; to elevate; to heave; as, to raise a stone or weight; hence, used in derived senses, as, (a.) To bring to a higher condition or situation; to elevate in rank, dignity, and the like; to increase the value or estimation of; to promote; to exalt; to advance; to enhance; as, to raise from a low estate; to raise to office; to raise the price, and the like. “This gentleman came to be raised to great titles.” Clarendon. “The plate pieces of eight were raised three pence in the piece.” Sir W. Temple. (b.) To increase the strength, vigor, or vehemence of; to excite; to intensify; to invigorate; to heighten; as, to raise the pulse; to raise the voice; to raise the spirits or the courage; to raise the heat of a furnace. (c.) To bring up from the lower world; to call up, as a spirit from the world of spirits; to recall from death; to give life to.

Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Acts xxvi. 8.

2Sense 2. To cause to rise up, or assume an erect position or posture; to set up; to make upright; hence, (a.) To cause to spring up from a recumbent position, from a state of quiet, or the like; to awaken. “They shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.” Job xiv. 12. (b.) To rouse to action; to stir up; to incite to tumult, struggle, or war; to excite.

He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind. Ps. cvii. 25.

Æneas then employs his pains, In parts remote, to raise the Tuscan swains. Dryden.

3Sense 3. To cause to arise, grow up, or come into being or to appear; to give rise to; to originate, produce, cause, effect, or the like; hence, used with specific or derived senses, as, (a.) To form by the accumulation of materials or constituent parts; to build up; to erect; as, to raise the frame of a house, a wall, a heap of stones, an estate, or the like. “I will raise forts against thee.” Is. xxix. 3. (b.) To bring together; to collect; to levy; to get together or obtain for use or service; as, to raise money, troops, and the like. (c.) To cause to grow; to procure to be produced, bred, or propagated; to grow; as, to raise wheat, barley, hops, &c.; to raise horses, oxen, or sheep. (d.) To bring into being; to produce; to cause to come forth or appear;—often with up. “I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren.” Deut. xviii. 18.

God vouchsafes to raise another world From him. Milton.

(e.) To give rise to; to set a-going; to occasion; to start; to originate. “Thou shalt not raise a false report.” Exod. xxiii. 1. (f.) To give vent or utterance to; to utter; to strike up.

Soon as the prince appears, they raise a cry. Dryden.

The English now use grow in regard to crops; as, to grow wheat. This verb has never been used in New England in a transitive sense, until recently some persons have adopted it from the English books. It is a peculiarity of the Southern States to apply the word raise to the rearing or bringing up of men; as, I was raised in Kentucky. In England, as well as in the Northern States, raise, in this sense, is applied only to animals; though we do speak of raising a sickly child, where, however, the reference is to the weakness of his animal frame.

4Sense 4. To cause to rise, as by the effect of leaven; to make light and spongy, as bread.

Miss Liddy can dance a jig, and raise paste. Spectator.

5Sense 5. (Naut.) To cause to seem elevated, as an object by a gradual approach to it; to bring to be seen at a greater angle; as, to raise the land; to raise a point. Totten.

6Sense 6. (Law.) To create or constitute; as, to raise a use, that is, to create it. Burrill.

To raise a blockade (Mil.), 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.—To raise a purchase (Naut.), to dispose instruments or machines in such a manner as to exert any mechanical force required.—To raise a siege, to relinquish an attempt to take a place by besieging it, or to cause the attempt to be relinquished.

Synonyms—To lift; exalt; elevate; erect; originate; cause; produce; heighten; aggravate; excite.