raise

present singular third person raises · participle present raising · participle past raised · past raised · first person past singular raised · archaic present second person singular raisest · past second person singular raised · archaic past second person singular raisedst · present singular third person raises · archaic present singular third person raiseth · past singular third person raised · past plural raised · past subjunctive raised · participle present raising · participle past raised

1. physicalTo cause to rise; to lift or elevate.

   the flag was raised

   3 more examples

   to raise your hand if you want to say something; to raise your walking stick to defend yourself

   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.

   1957 October 28, “Notes and News: Manchester-Crewe Electrification”, in Railway Magazine, page 734

   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."

   2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, pages 29-30

   1. physicalTo form by the accumulation of materials or constituent parts; to build up; to erect.

      to raise a wall, or a heap of stones

      1 more example

      I will raise forts against thee.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah xxxix:3

   2. physicalTo cause something to come to the surface of water.

      The ship was raised ten years after it had sunk.

   3. physicalnauticalTo cause (the land or any other object) to seem higher by drawing nearer to it.

      to raise Sandy Hook light

   4. physicalTo make (bread, etc.) light, as by yeast or leaven.
   5. figurativelyphysicalTo cause (a dead person) to live again; to resurrect.

      The magic spell raised the dead from their graves!

   6. physicalgovernmentTo 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. physicaltransitivegovernmentTo relinquish (a siege), or cause this to be done.
   8. physicaltransitiveartsTo emboss (sheet metal), or to form it into cup-shaped or hollow articles, by hammering, stamping, or spinning.
2. transitiveTo create, increase or develop.

   We need to raise the motivation level in the company.

   1 more example

   to raise the quality of the products; to raise the price of goods; to raise (increase) taxes

   1. transitiveTo collect or amass.

      to raise a lot of money for charity; to raise troops

      3 more examples

      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.

      1955 February, T. B. Sands, “The Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 79

      Every pound raised goes to helping some of the world's most vulnerable children.

      2021 October 20, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 942, page 71

      Through special bike rides including a dedicated ride on the Zim Smith trail, the family continues to raise thousands of dollars for the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). These funds pay for safety educators to visit local schools.

      2026 August 17, Nicholas Muhoro, “Craig Frear Disappeared After Avoiding His Father in 2004, and No Trace of Him Has Ever Been Found”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 18 Aug 2026

   2. obsoletetransitiveTo call up the forces of, to raise the troops from.

      May it pleaſe your Grace that I ſhall raiſe the ſtreets, To Gard your Maieſtie through Smithfield as you walke.

      1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act III

   3. transitiveTo bring up; to grow.

      We visited a farm where they raise chickens.

      2 more examples

      Chew with your mouth shut — were you raised in a barn?

      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.

      1981, Hualing Nieh, editor, Literature of the Hundred Flowers, volume II, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page xxxix

   4. transitiveTo promote.

      to raise somebody to office

      Synonyms: elevate, empower, uplift, advance, aggrandize, dignify, elevate, ennoble

   5. transitiveTo mention (a question, issue) for discussion.

      A few important questions were raised after the attack.

      2 more examples

      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.

      2025 February 1, Tami Luhby, Eric Bradner and Rene Marsh, “Federal employees confused, angered by Trump’s offer to quit”, in CNN

      All of which is to say, SignalGate raises plenty of security, privacy, and legal issues.

      2025 March 26, Andy Greenberg, Lily Hay Newman, “SignalGate Isn’t About Signal”, in WIRED

   6. transitivelawTo 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. transitiveTo 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 more examples

      I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy xviii:18

      God voutsafes to raise another World From him [Noah], and all his anger to forget.

      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

      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?

      1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

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. intransitivecard gamesTo 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. arithmeticTo exponentiate, to involute.

   Two raised to the fifth power equals 32.

6. transitivehuman sciencesTo extract (a subject or other verb argument) out of an inner clause.
7. transitivehuman sciencesTo 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. transitivecomputingTo instantiate and transmit (an exception, by throwing it, or an event).

   A division by zero will raise an exception.

   1 more example

   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.

   2007, Bruce Bukovics, Pro WF: Windows Workflow in .NET 3.0, page 243

10. IndiatransitiveTo open, initiate.

    I will raise a trouble-ticket in order to correct this reporting issue.

11. misspellingMisspelling of raze.

plural raises

1. USabbreviationellipsisEllipsis of pay raise (“an increase in wages or salary”).

   The boss gave me a raise.

   Synonyms: rise, pay rise

2. ball gamesA shot in which the delivered stone bumps another stone forward.
3. card gamesA bet that increases the previous bet.
4. businessA shaft or a winze that is dug from below, for purposes such as ventilation, local extraction of ore, or exploration.

   1 more example

   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. hobbiesA shoulder exercise in which the arms are elevated against resistance.

plural raises

1. A cairn or pile of stones.