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From Middle English 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 *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.



raise (third-person singular simple present raises, present participle raising, simple past and past participle raised)

  1. (physical) To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.
    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
      • Bible, Isaiah xxxix. 3
        I will raise forts against thee.
    2. To cause something to come to the surface of the sea.
      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. (figuratively) To cause (a dead person) to live again, to cause to be undead.
      The magic spell raised the dead from their graves!
  2. (transitive) To create, increase or develop.
    We need to raise the motivation level in the company.
    1. To collect.
      to raise a lot of money for charity;  to raise troops
    2. To bring up; to grow; to promote.
      We visited a farm where they raise chickens.
      to raise somebody to office
    3. To mention (a question, issue) for discussion.
      A few important questions were raised after the attack.
    4. (law) To create; to constitute (a use, or a beneficial interest in property).
    5. (obsolete) To bring into being; to produce; to cause to arise, come forth, or appear.
      • Bible, Deuteronomy xviii. 18.
      • John Milton (1608-1674)
  3. (poker, intransitive) To respond to a bet by increasing the amount required to continue in the hand.
  4. (arithmetic) To exponentiate, to involute.
    Two raised to the fifth power equals 32.
  5. (linguistics, transitive, of a verb) To extract (a subject or other verb argument) out of an inner clause.


Derived termsEdit




raise (plural raises)

  1. (US) An increase in wages or salary; a rise (UK).
    The boss gave me a raise.
  2. (weightlifting) A shoulder exercise in which the arms are elevated against resistance.
  3. (curling) A shot in which the delivered stone bumps another stone forward.
  4. (poker) A bet which increased the previous bet.

Derived termsEdit



Last modified on 1 March 2014, at 18:05