raise

English

Pronunciation
  • enPR: rāz, IPA(key): /ɹeɪz/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Homophones: rase, rays, raze, rehs, réis, res
  • Rhymes: -eɪz

Etymology 1

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.

Verb

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.
    to raise your hand if you want to say something; to raise your walking stick to defend yourself
    • 2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, pages 29-30:
      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."
    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
    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
      • 2021 October 20, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 942, page 71:
        Every pound raised goes to helping some of the world's most vulnerable children.
    2. (obsolete) To call up the forces of, to raise the troops from.
    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?
      • 1981, Hualing Nieh, editor, Literature of the Hundred Flowers‎, volume II, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page xxxix:
        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.
    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. (law) 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.
  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.
Usage notes
  • It is standard US English to raise children, and this usage has become common in all kinds of English since the 1700s. Until fairly recently, however, US teachers taught the traditional rule that one should raise crops and animals, but rear children, despite the fact that this contradicted general usage. It is therefore not surprising that some people still prefer "to rear children" and that this is considered correct but formal in US English. Modern British English also prefers "raise" over "rear".
  • It is generally considered incorrect to say rear crops or (adult) animals in US English, but this expression is (or was until relatively recently) common in British English.
Synonyms
  • (to cause to rise): lift
Derived terms
Terms derived from raise (verb)
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § 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
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old Norse hreysi; the spelling came about under the influence of the folk etymology that derived it from the verb.

Noun

raise (plural raises)

  1. A cairn or pile of stones.
Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle English

Noun

raise

  1. Alternative form of reys
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