[ad. L. ēlevātiōn-em, n. of action f. ēlevāre: see ELEVATE v.]
I. Process or result of elevating.
1. The action or process of lifting up or raising aloft; also, the giving of an upward direction to anything. Valley of elevation (see quot. 1887).
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (1531), 15 b. The eleuacyons or wawes of the see ben meruaylous.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 61. He [a Bull] can tosse into the aire very great and weighty beasts, which he receiueth againe as they fall downe, doubling their eleuation with renewed strength and rage.
1663. W. Charleton, Chor. Gigant., 32. At first elevation of their eyes.
1676. Grew, Lect., II. i. § 6. Elevation; when, like Paste in baking … they [the bodies mixed] swell and huff up.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, III. i. (1723), 182 (J.). The Disruption of the Strata: the Elevation of some, and Depression of others.
1863. A. C. Ramsay, Phys. Geog., i. (1878), 11. Volcanic regions subject to earthquakes are often areas of elevation.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 205. But the land is subject … also to local elevations and depressions.
1887. H. B. Woodward, Geol. Eng. & Wales (ed. 2), 586. We sometimes find the higher tracts to be formed by what was … a depression, while tracts originally elevated have been converted into … ‘Valleys of Elevation.’
† b. spec. = erection. Obs.
1543. Traheron, Vigo’s Chirurg., I. xi. 10 b. The yarde … is full of ventosite … by which the eleuation of the same commeth.
c. spec. The lifting up of the Host for the adoration of the people.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1684), III. 666/1. Before the Elevation … he turned him to the People in a great Rage.
1637. Gillespie, Eng.-Pop. Cerem., III. ii. 28. The elevation of the bread materialiter, is not Idolatrous.
1699. Burnet, 39 Art., xxviii. (1700), 342. The Elevation of the Sacrament began to be practised in the Sixth Century.
1884. F. M. Crawford, Rom. Singer, I. 9. And only takes it off when he sings the Gloria Patri, or at the Elevation.
† d. fig. The lifting up of the soul (in adoration); a devout exaltation of feeling. Obs.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. § 48 (1662), 199 (J.). All which different elevations of spirit unto God, are contained in the name of Prayer.
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 3 (1656), 5. I could never heare the Ave Marie Bell without an elevation.
1674. Owen, Holy Spirit (1693), 185. The Elevation of Faith to apprehend Divine Power.
1678. J. Norris, Misc. (1699), 259 (J.). We are … to Love him with all possible Application and Elevation of Spirit.
1687. Burnet, Death prim. Persecutors. Let us then Celebrate Gods Triumph over his Enemies with all the Elevations of Joy.
2. concr. A rising or swelling (on the skin or surface of the ground); a rising ground, an eminence.
1543. Traheron, Vigo’s Chirurg., II. x. 23 a. Pruna hath not so great eleuation as ignis persicus.
1599. A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physicke, 288/2. If … the Patient had noe externalle disease, nor anye eleuatione.
1799. Kirwan, Geol. Ess., 285. Secondary strata present … elevations, from an original elevation in the fundamental stone.
1825. Macaulay, Milton, Ess. (1854), I. 14/1. Nooks and dells, beautiful as fairyland, are embosomed in its most rugged and gigantic elevations.
1848. S. C. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., x. (1879), 221. The remaining part of the elevation seemed like a small hill placed upon a terrace.
† 3. Sublimation; vaporization by heat. Obs.
1605. Timme, Quersit., II. i. 103. The elevations and sublimations of the spirits of the said salt.
1612. Woodall, Surg. Mate, Wks. (1655), 270. Elevation is subtiliation, when spiritual parts from the corporal … by the force of fire are elevated.
1641. French, Distill., i. (1651), 10. Elevation, is the rising of any matter in manner of fume, or vapour, by vertue of heat.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., IV. ii. 301. An elevation or rectification of some parts of that Matter.
4. transf. a. A raising or increase (of temperature). b. A quickening (of the pulse); a raising of the animal spirits. Hence (dial. or vulgar) that which raises the spirits, a ‘pick-me-up.’
1725. N. Robinson, Th. Physick, 88. From the Elevation or Depression of the Pulse we judge the Impulse of the Heart to be stronger or weaker.
1850. Kingsley, Alt. Locke, xii. What’s elevation? Opium, bor’ alive, opium.
1882. Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 825. The slight elevation of temperature in the forenoon.
5. a. The raising (of the voice) in loudness (? also in pitch). † b. concr. The stressed syllable of a metrical foot; = ARSIS (rare).
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. Pp 4 b. The consideration of the Accidents of Wordes, which are Measure, sound, and Eleuation, or Accent.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 45. Prolongation of Vowels, or Elevation of voice in the pronouncing of any syllable. Accent.
a. 1789. Burney, Hist. Mus. (ed. 2), I. vi. 64. They [feet] were divided into two parts … the first of which was called elevation.
† 6. Music. One of the ‘graces’ in old English music. Obs.
1659. Chr. Simpson, Division Viol, 9. Sometimes a Note is graced by sliding it from the Third below, called an Elevation, now something obsolete.
† 7. The raising or rearing (of plants). Obs.
1658. Evelyn, Fr. Gard. (1675), 38. The elevation and raising of trees.
8. The action of raising in rank or dignity; the state or fact of being elevated in rank.
a. 1704. Locke, Cond. Und., Introd. § 3. Wks. 1722, III. 391 (J.). Angels … in their several degrees of Elevation above us.
1701. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), V. 4. The duke of Berwick was gone … to compliment the pope upon his elevation.
1827. Hare, Guesses, Ser. II. (1873), 541. A sudden elevation in life … smells us out, and often perniciously.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), II. viii. 270. The many men of talent who owed their elevation to Wolsey.
II. The height to which anything is elevated.
9. Of angular magnitude: a. Astron. The altitude or angular height of the pole, or of any heavenly body, above the horizon. † Of a place: The elevation of the pole at that place; the latitude (obs.). Also in Dialling, the angle made by the gnomon with the horizon (which is equal to the latitude of the place).
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 23. Tak ther the elevacioun of thi pool.
1549. Compl. Scot., vi. (1872), 47. Cosmaghraphie … sal declair the … eleuation … of the sone, mune, and of the sternis.
1593. T. Fale, Dialling, 10. Before Sunne rising and after Sunne setting in our Elevation.
1642. Howell, For. Trav. (Arb.), 87. The distance between places may be known by the elevation of the pole.
1683. Tryon, Way to Health, 471. Under the Elivation of oure Pole.
1686. trans. Chardin’s Trav. Persia, 247. The Elevation of Erivan is in 40 Deg. 15 Min.
1706. Phillips, Elevation of the Pole (in Dialling) is the Angle which the Style … makes with the Substylar Line.
1726. trans. Gregory’s Astron., I. II. 373. The Elevation of the Pole in that place therefore is also given.
1867–77. G. Chambers, Astron., Vocab. Def. 915 Elevation of the Pole.
b. The angle made with the horizontal by any line of direction; spec. the angle at which a gun is elevated.
1692. in Capt. Smith’s Seaman’s Gram., II. iv. 93. But if his Piece be mounted to any Elevation, he need not put a Wad after the shot.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Hh b. The shell being fired at an elevation of 45°.
1798. Capt. Millar, in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1846), VII. Introd. 155. I observed their shot … and knowing that … they would not have coolness enough to change their elevation, I closed them suddenly.
10. A particular height or altitude above a given level; as the height of a locality above the level of the sea; of a building, etc., above the level of the ground.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., iii. § 9. The particular distance, position, elevation, or dimension of the fabric.
1830. J. G. Strutt, Sylva Brit., 4. In sheltered groups they will reach an elevation of eighty or a hundred feet.
1856. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., ii. (1858), 129. Jerusalem is of nearly the same elevation as the highest ground in England.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 2. 19–20. What was snow at the higher elevations changed to rain lower down.
b. fig.
1822. Imison, Sc. & Art, II. 391. He will perceive to what an elevation the excellence of the art can raise him.
11. concr. A drawing of a building or other object made in projection on a vertical plane, as distinguished from a ground plan.
1731. Bailey, vol. II., Elevation [in Architecture] a draught or description of the face or principal side of a building, called also the Upright.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), IV. 244. The plan and elevations of the late earl of Leicester’s house.
1833. Brewster, Nat. Magic, xi. 281. An elevation of the automaton, as seen from behind.
1847. S. H. Brooks (title), City, Town and Country Architecture, designs for Street Elevations, Shop Fronts, [etc.].
1874. R. Tyrwhitt, Our Sketching Club, 28. That ’s the front of your block which faces you,—the ‘elevation’ they call it.
12. As an abstract quality: Height, loftiness. a. lit. Of a building, etc. b. fig. Of literary style: Grandeur, dignity; formerly also in pl., instances of elevation. c. fig. Of character and sentiments: Nobleness, loftiness of tone.
a. Mod. A building of imposing elevation.
b. 1651. Reliq. Wotton, 21 (J.). His Stile … wanted a little Elevation.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xxxiv. 126. The elevation of an expression in an ancient author.
1750. Johnson, Rambl., No 1, ¶ 6. Some [epic poets] that imagined themselves intitled … to elevations not allowed in common life.
1872. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 134. A return to some features of the classic form, its dignity, elevation, and severity.
c. 1667. Glanvill, A Loyal Tear Dropt, 30 (R.). They … proudly pitied the poor and carnal World, that is, all that were not of their conceited pitch and elevation.
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 87, ¶ 7. When nothing is necessary to elevation but detection of the follies of others.
1868. Lecky, Europ. Mor., II. i. 72. Elevation of character constituted the Roman ideal of perfection.
1880. McCarthy, Own Times, III. xlvi. 407. His character was somewhat wanting in the dignity of moral elevation.
