raise

1 /reIz/ verb (T)

1 MOVE

a) to move or lift something to a higher position, place, or level: Can you raise your arm above your head? | They're thinking of raising the ceiling in the kitchen. | The teacher raised his finger to his lips for silence.

b) to move or lift something into an upright position: The bridge can be raised in the middle to allow ships through.

c) to move your eyes or face so that you are looking upwards: She raised her eyes from the newspaper when he came in.

d) also raise up to lift the upper part of your body from a lying position: She raised herself up on her arms and looked around sleepily.

2 INCREASE to increase an amount, number, or level: We have no plans to raise taxes at present. | The reaction is started by raising the temperature to 140ºC.

3 IMPROVE to improve the quality or standard of something: Better training will raise the efficiency of the workforce.

4 CHILDREN especially AmE to look after your children and help them grow; bring up BrE: Many women return to work after raising their families. | raise sb (as) a Catholic/Muslim etc: His parents raised him as a Protestant. | born and raised: She was born and raised a country girl. | be raised on: These kids are raised on a diet of junk food.

5 FARMING to grow plants or keep cows, pigs etc so that they can be used as food: raise wheat/pigs

6 raise hopes/consciousness/awareness etc to make people more hopeful etc: The peace talks have raised hopes for the hostages' release. | The conference is intended to raise people's awareness of AIDS.

7 EMOTION/REACTION

a) to cause a particular emotion or reaction: His long absence is beginning to raise fears for his safety. | His jokes barely raised a laugh.

b) to try to show a particular feeling or emotion although you do not really feel it: She felt so sad, she couldn't even raise a smile.

8 raise a question/objection/point etc to begin to talk or write about a question etc that you want to be considered: A number of objections were raised at the meeting. | This raises important issues about security.

9 COLLECT MONEY/PEOPLE

a) to collect money, support etc so that you can use it to help people: We are raising money to pay for a new hospital ward.

b) old-fashioned to collect together a group of people, especially soldiers: The king raised a vast army.

10 raise your eyebrows (at) to show surprise, doubt, disapproval etc by moving your eyebrows upwards: Chuck raised his eyebrows at her, not knowing what to say. | raised eyebrows: There were a lot of raised eyebrows when the scandal came out.

11 VOICE raise your voice to speak loudly or shout because you are angry: Don't raise your voice to me, young man! | raised voices: We could hear raised voices coming from the bar.

12 raise your glasses spoken used to tell a group of people to celebrate something by holding up their glasses and drinking from them: Ladies and gentlemen, will you raise your glasses to the bride and groom.

13 raise the spectre of sth literary to make you aware of something frightening: The continuing violence has raised the spectre of civil war.

14 DEAD PERSON Biblical to make someone who has died live again: Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave.

15 WAKE SB literary to wake someone who is difficult to wake: Try as he might he could not raise her.

16 raise the alarm to warn people about danger: A passerby raised the alarm before the fire got out of control.

17 raise a siege/embargo formal to allow goods to go in and out of a place again after they have been stopped by force or by a law

18 CARD GAME to make a higher bid than an opponent in a card game: I'll raise you $100.

19 SPEAK TO SB to speak to someone on a piece of radio equipment: They finally managed to raise him at Miller's sheep farm.

20 BUILD formal to build something such as a monument

21 raise hell/Cain

a) informal to behave in an angry and threatening way: I'll raise hell with whoever is responsible for this mess.

b) especially AmE to behave in a wild, noisy way that upsets other people: The kids next door were raising hell last night.

22 raise the roof to make a very loud noise when singing, celebrating etc

23 raise your hand especially AmE to put your arm in the air to show that you want something: Raise your hand if you know the answer.

24 raise 2/4/10 etc to the power of 2/3/4 etc technical to multiply a number by itself a particular number of times: 2 raised to the power of 2 (=2ü) is 8.

USAGE NOTE: RAISE WORD CHOICE: raise, lift, increase, rise, bring up, rear, grow, improve People or other forces raise things to a higher position, though in informal language lift is usually used: The crane raised/lifted the whole house. In a court of law you may hear: Raise the book in your right hand. People, governments etc raise or increase the price, cost, or amount of something: The government is raising the tax on cigarettes again. | Heavy traffic is raising/increasing the level of pollution in the town. When things or prices move upwards on their own, they rise: The balloon rose slowly from the ground. | the problem of rising inflation | Industrial production looks set to rise in the new year. You can also raise children, meaning you look after them as they grow up. This sense is more common in American English than in British English, where bring up is the more usual expression. In both British and American English it is common either to raise or bring up a point, question etc in a discussion. Again, especially in American English you may raise cattle or wheat on a farm. More generally, and in British English, you rear cattle and grow wheat, flowers, or vegetables. When you are talking about making something better, people often use either raise or improve: I'm working hard to raise/improve my TOEFL score. | Women still need to raise/improve their position in society (NOT raise up). When something gets better on its own you can use rise or improve: Standards are rising/improving. The noun raise means a pay increase and is American English. In British English you say: He got a (pay) rise. Otherwise the noun is always rise: a rise in house prices/standards | the rise of the Roman Empire GRAMMAR The past tense of rise is rose, the perfect tense is have risen (NOT raised). 2 noun (C) AmE an increase in the money you earn; rise 2 (2) BrE