elevation
(ɛlɪˈveɪʃən)
[ad. L. ēlevātiōn-em, n. of action f. ēlevāre: see elevate v.]
I. Process or result of elevating.
1. a. 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 8 A Bull..can toss into the air very great..beasts, which he receiveth again as they fall down, doubling their elevation 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 (J.) The disruption of the strata, the elevation of some, and depression of others. 1863 A. 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 Woodward Geol. Engl. & 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 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.| a 1600 Hooker (J.) All which different elevations of spirit unto God, are contained in the name of prayer. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §3, I could never heare the Ave Maria Bell without an elevation. 1674 Owen Holy Spirit (1693) 185 The Elevation of Faith to apprehend Divine Power. 1687 Burnet Death prim. Persecutors, Let us then Celebrate Gods Triumph over his Enemies with all the Elevations of Joy. 1711 Norris (J.) We are..to love him with all possible..elevation of spirit. |
e. Ballet. A dancer's leap or jump (steps of elevation) off the ground; the point attained in such a leap; in modern dance, an act or the action of tightening the muscles and improving the general lift of the body in a dancer's stance. (Also in
Fr. form
élévation.)
| 1830 R. Barton tr. Blasis's Code of Terpsichore ii. vi. 77 In all your high caperings, develope a manly vigour, and let your steps of elevation be agreeably contrasted, by the rapidity of your terre-à-terre steps. 1889 G. B. Shaw London Mus. 1888–89 (1937) 223 The entrechats, battements, ronds de jambes, arabesques, élévations, that are the stock-in-trade of the art of theatrical dancing. 1934 A. Haskell Balletomania xi. 223 She has gained an elevation that allows her to do thirty-six consecutive entrechats six! 1948 Ballet Ann. II. 36 A magnificent soaring elevation. Ibid. 126 A slender dancer of exceptional elevation. 1949 Shurr & Yocum Mod. Dance i. 14 Elevation refers not only to ‘inches off the floor’—as in running, jumping, and leaping—but also to the body lift. 1961 [see à terre]. |
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. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 288/2 If..the Patient hath no 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 W. 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. (1653) 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 The. Physick 88 Elevation or Depression of the Pulse. 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. 60 The consideration of the Accedents 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 C. 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.
| 16.. Locke (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 tr. Chardin's Trav. 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 tr. 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 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. 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 What was snow at the higher elevations changed to rain lower down. |
b. fig.| 1822 J. 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 Architect.) 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. Brooks (title) City, Town and Country Architecture, designs for Street Elevations, Shop Fronts, etc. 1874 R. Tyrwhitt Sk. 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. a 1639 Wotton (J.) His style..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. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 134 A return to..the classic form, its dignity, elevation, and severity. |
| c. a 1680 Glanvill Serm. iii. (R.) They..pitied the poor and carnal world..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 M{supc}Carthy Own Times III. xlvi. 407 His character was somewhat wanting in the dignity of moral elevation. |