raise
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: rāz
ipa: /ɹeɪz/
homophone: rase
homophone: rays
homophone: raze
homophone: rehs
homophone: réis
homophone: res
rhymes: -eɪz
Forms: form: raises
form: raising
form: raised
form: raised
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: raise
form: raise
form: raised
form: raise
form: raisest
form: raised
form: raisedst
form: raises
form: raiseth
form: raised
form: raise
form: raised
form: raise
form: raised
form: raise
form: -
form: raising
form: raised
Etymology: From Middle English reysen, raisen, reisen, from Old Norse reisa (“to raise”), from Proto-Germanic *raisijaną, *raizijaną (“to raise”), causative form of Proto-Germanic *rīsaną (“to rise”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to rise, arise”). According to Kroonen (2013), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to stir, rise”).
Cognate with Old English rāsian (“to explore, examine, research”), Old English rīsan (“to seize, carry off”), Old English rǣran (“to raise”). Doublet of rear.
Senses: examples: text: to raise your hand if you want to say something; to raise your walking stick to defend yourself
text: the flag was raised
text: With the completion of the preliminary work of raising bridges on the Mauldeth Road-Wilmslow line, to accommodate overhead electrical equipment, further work has been put in hand on bridges on the London Midland Region main line between Manchester and Crewe.
ref: 1957 October 24, “Notes and News: Manchester-Crewe Electrification”, in Railway Magazine, page 734:
text: Because of the heavy traffic, the 1960-61 Christmas guide to trains between King's Cross and the north stated: "To make travel conditions as comfortable as possible, passengers are requested to raise arm rests to enable four people to be seated on each side of those compartments which are fitted with arm rests."
ref: 2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, pages 29-30:
glosses: To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.
examples: text: to raise a wall, or a heap of stones
text: I will raise forts against thee.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah xxxix:3:
glosses: To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.
To form by the accumulation of materials or constituent parts; to build up; to erect.
examples: text: The ship was raised ten years after it had sunk.
glosses: To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.
To cause something to come to the surface of water.
examples: text: to raise Sandy Hook light
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.
To cause (the land or any other object) to seem higher by drawing nearer to it.
glosses: To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.
To make (bread, etc.) light, as by yeast or leaven.
examples: text: The magic spell raised the dead from their graves!
glosses: To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.
To cause (a dead person) to live again; to resurrect.
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.
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.
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.
To relinquish (a siege), or cause this to be done.
topics: arts
crafts
engineering
hobbies
lifestyle
metallurgy
metalworking
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.
To emboss (sheet metal), or to form it into cup-shaped or hollow articles, by hammering, stamping, or spinning.
examples: text: We need to raise the motivation level in the company.
text: to raise the quality of the products; to raise the price of goods; to raise (increase) taxes
glosses: To create, increase or develop.
examples: text: to raise a lot of money for charity; to raise troops
text: But capital was proving difficult to raise; rumours were in the air that the G.W.R. and L.S.W.R. were about to patch up their quarrel, and the people of Southampton, who twelve months earlier had staged a torch-light procession to celebrate the passing of the D.N.S.R. Act, were increasingly loath to part with their cash.
ref: 1955 February, T. B. Sands, “The Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 79:
text: Every pound raised goes to helping some of the world's most vulnerable children.
ref: 2021 October 20, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 942, page 71:
glosses: To create, increase or develop.
To collect or amass.
examples: text: May it pleaſe your Grace that I ſhall raiſe the ſtreets,
To Gard your Maieſtie through Smithfield as you walke.
ref: 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act III:
glosses: To create, increase or develop.
To call up the forces of, to raise the troops from.
examples: text: We visited a farm where they raise chickens.
text: Chew with your mouth shut — were you raised in a barn?
text: Ting Ling had disappeared from public life in 1958. She was accused of being a "Rightist" and was sent to a farm in Hei-lung-chiang Province in remote northeast China, worked there twelve years raising chickens, was in prison five years (1970-1975), and began to live in a village in Shansi in 1975.
ref: 1981, Hualing Nieh, editor, Literature of the Hundred Flowers, volume II, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page xxxix:
glosses: To create, increase or develop.
To bring up; to grow.
examples: text: to raise somebody to office
glosses: To create, increase or develop.
To promote.
examples: text: A few important questions were raised after the attack.
text: President Donald Trump’s offer to most federal employees to resign now and be paid through September stunned the workers who received it – angering some, confusing many and raising questions about whether the offer is even legal.
ref: 2025 February 1, Tami Luhby, Eric Bradner and Rene Marsh, “Federal employees confused, angered by Trump’s offer to quit”, in CNN:
text: All of which is to say, SignalGate raises plenty of security, privacy, and legal issues.
ref: 2025 March 26, Andy Greenberg, Lily Hay Newman, “SignalGate Isn’t About Signal”, in WIRED:
glosses: To create, increase or develop.
To mention (a question, issue) for discussion.
examples: text: There should be some consideration (i.e., payment or exchange) to raise a use.
topics: law
glosses: To create, increase or develop.
To create; to constitute (a use, or a beneficial interest in property).
examples: text: Starting in January we will raise (introduce) taxes on all tobacco substitutes and vaping accessories.
text: I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy xviii:18:
text: God voutsafes to raise another World From him [Noah], and all his anger to forget.
ref: 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:
text: 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?
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
glosses: To create, increase or develop.
To bring into being; to produce; to cause to arise, come forth, or appear.
examples: text: Despite all the call congestion, she was eventually able to raise the police.
glosses: To establish contact with (e.g., by telephone or radio).
examples: text: John bet, and Julie raised, requiring John to put in more money.
topics: card-games
poker
glosses: To respond to a bet by increasing the amount required to continue in the hand.
examples: text: Two raised to the fifth power equals 32.
topics: arithmetic
glosses: To exponentiate, to involute.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: To extract (a subject or other verb argument) out of an inner clause.
raw_tags: of a verb
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: To produce a vowel with the tongue positioned closer to the roof of the mouth.
raw_tags: of a vowel
glosses: 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.
examples: text: A division by zero will raise an exception.
text: 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.
ref: 2007, Bruce Bukovics, Pro WF: Windows Workflow in .NET 3.0, page 243:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
programming
sciences
glosses: To instantiate and transmit (an exception, by throwing it, or an event).
examples: text: I will raise a trouble-ticket in order to correct this reporting issue.
glosses: To open, initiate.
Synonyms: sense: to cause to rise
word: lift
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: check-raise
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: curtain-raise
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: hand-raise
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: I'll see you and raise you
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: it takes a village to raise a child
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise a finger
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise a flag
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise a hand
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise an eyebrow
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise a stink
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise borer
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise Cain
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raised by wolves
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raised in a barn
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise eyebrows
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise fire
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise flags
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise from the dead
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise hell
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise hob
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise oneself up by one's bootstraps
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise one's eyebrows
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise one's game
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise one's glass
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise one's hand
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise one's head
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise one's voice
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise red flags
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise someone's consciousness
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise someone's hackles
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise someone's shackles
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise someone's shag
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise someone's spirits
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise steam
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the alarm
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the ante
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the bar
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the dead
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the devil
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the flag and see who salutes
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the line
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the roof
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the specter
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the spectre
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the stakes
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the white flag
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise the wind
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise to the ermine
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise to the purple
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise unshirted hell
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: raise up
sense: Terms derived from raise (verb)
word: value raise