Search the Dictionary

To raise from a depressed state; to animate; to cheer; as, to elevate the spirits.

Uplifted; high; lofty; also, animated; noble; as, elevated thoughts. Elevated railway, one in which the track is raised considerably above the ground, especially a city railway above the line of street travel.

to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope; to raise, or to increase, the confidence of; to animate; enhearten; to incite; to help forward; -- the opposite of discourage. David encouraged himself in the Lord. 1 Sam. xxx. 6.

To give spirit or vivacity to; to make sprightly, gay, or cheerful; to animate; as, mirth and good humor enliven a company; enlivening strains of music.

One who, or that which, enlivens, animates, or invigorates.

To animate; to encourage; to cheer. It raiseth the dropping spirit, erecting it to a loving complaisance. Barrow.

To make merry or jolly; to enliven; to animate; to gladden greatly; to cheer; as, good news exhilarates the mind; wine exhilarates a man.

To incite by words or advice; to animate or urge by arguments, as to a good deed or laudable conduct; to address exhortation to; to urge strongly; hence, to advise, warn, or caution. Examples gross as earth exhort me. Shak. Let me exhort you to take care of yourself. J. D. Forbes.

Of a definite form or figure. Plants are all figurate and determinate, which inanimate bodies are not. Bacon.

To animate; to give life or spirit to; as, to fire the genius of a young man.

Unanimated; dull; uninteresting; without point or spirit; monotonous; as, a flat speech or composition. How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world. Shak.

To excite; to animate; to stir. Such things as can only feed his pride and flush his ambition. South.

warmth, fervor, ardor, fire, vivacity, etc.; unfeeling; forbidding in manner; dull and unanimated; stiff and formal; as, a frigid constitution; a frigid style; a frigid look or manner; frigid obedience or service.

Violent anger; extreme wrath; rage; -- sometimes applied to inanimate things, as the wind or storms; impetuosity; violence. "Fury of the wind." Shak. I do oppose my patience to his fury. Shak.

To feel the heat of passion; to be animated, as by intense love, zeal, anger, etc.; to rage, as passior; as, the heart glows with love, zeal, or patriotism. With pride it mounts, and with revenge it glows. Dryden. Burns with one love, with one resentment glows. Pope.

; to advance; to make progress; -- used, in various applications, of the movement of both animate and inanimate beings, by whatever means, and also of the movements of the mind; also figuratively applied.

arly progressive; slow; as, a gradual increase of knowledge; a gradual decline. Creatures animate with gradual life Of growth, sense, reason, all summed up in man. Milton.

The uppermost, foremost, or most important part of an inanimate object; such a part as may be considered to resemble the head of an animal; often, also, the larger, thicker, or heavier part or extremity, in distinction from the smaller or thinner part, or from the point or edge; as, the head of a cane, a nail, a spear,…

To encourage; to animate; to incite or stimulate the courage of; to embolden. Hearten those that fight in your defense. Shak.

One who, or that which, heartens, animates, or stirs up. W. Browne.