Definition of "elevate" in English

verb

1. (transitive) To raise (something) to a higher position.

   • The doctor told me elevating my legs would help reduce the swelling.
   • 1750, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 25, 12 June, 1750, Volume 1, London: J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 1752, p. 216, We know that a few strokes of the axe will lop a cedar; but what arts of cultivation can elevate a shrub?

2. (transitive) To promote (someone) to a higher rank.

3. (transitive) To confer honor or nobility on (someone).

   • The traditional worldview elevates man as the pinnacle of creation.
   • For loftie type of honour through the glaunce Of enuies dart, is downe in dust prostrate;

4. (transitive) To make (something or someone) more worthy or of greater value.

   • A talented chef can elevate everyday ingredients into gourmet delights.

5. (transitive) To direct (the mind, thoughts, etc.) toward more worthy things.

6. (transitive) To increase the intensity or degree of (something).

   • Some drugs have the side effect of elevating your blood sugar level.

7. (transitive, obsolete) To lift the spirits of (someone)

   • 1759, Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Edinburgh: A. Kincaid and J. Bell, Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 1, p. 20, It gives us the spleen […] to see another too happy or too much elevated, as we call it, with any little piece of good fortune.

8. (dated, colloquial, humorous) To intoxicate in a slight degree; to make (someone) tipsy.

9. (obsolete, Latinism) To attempt to make (something) seem less important, remarkable, etc.

   • 1660, Jeremy Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, London: Richard Royston, Volume 1, Chapter 4, Rule 2, p. 126, […] the Arabian Physicians […] endevour to elevate and lessen the thing [i.e. belief in the virgin birth of Jesus], by saying, It is not wholly beyond the force of nature, that a Virgin should conceive […]

adjective

1. (obsolete) Elevated, raised aloft.

   • 1548, Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke, London: Richard Grafton, Henry VII, year 6, The sayde crosse was .iii. tymes deuoutly eleuate, and at euery exaltacion, ye Moores beyng within the cytie, roared, howled and cryed,