Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EL-EU-SIN'I-AN, a.

Relating to Eleusis in Greece; as, Eleusinian mysteries or festivals, the festivals and mysteries of Ceres.

EL'E-VATE, a. [L. elevatus.]

Elevated; raised aloft. Milton.

EL'E-VATE, v.t. [L. elevo; e and levo, to raise; Fr. elever; Sp. elevar; It. elevare; Eng. to lift. See Lift.]

1. To raise, in a literal and general sense to raise from a low or deep place to a higher.
2. To exalt; to raise to a higher state or station; as, to elevate a man to an office.
3. To improve, refine or dignify; to raise from or above low conceptions; as, to elevate the mind.
4. To raise from a low or common state; to exalt; as, deuce the character; to elevate a nation.
5. To elate with pride. Milton.
6. To excite; to cheer; to animate; as, to elevate the spirits.
7. To take from; to detract; to lessen by detraction. [Not used.] Hooker.
8. To raise from any tone to one more acute; as, to elevate the voice.
9. To augment or swell; to make louder, as sound.

EL'E-VA-TED, pp.

Raised; exalted; dignified; elated; excited; made more acute or more loud, as sound.

EL'E-VA-TING, ppr.

Raising; exalting; dignifying; elating; cheering.

EL-E-VA'TION, n. [L. elevatio.]

1. The act of raising or conveying from a lower or deeper place to a higher.
2. The act of exalting in rank, degree or condition; as, the elevation of man to a throne.
3. Exaltation; an elevated state; dignity. Angels, in their several degrees of elevation above us, may be endowed with more comprehensive faculties. Locke.
4. Exaltation of mind by more noble conceptions; as, elevation of mind, of thoughts, of ideas.
5. Exaltation of style; lofty expressions; words and phrases expressive of lofty conceptions. Wotton.
6. Exaltation of character or manners.
7. Attention to objects above us; a raising of the mind to superior objects. Hooker.
8. An elevated place or station.
9. Elevated ground; a rising ground; a hill or mountain.
10. A passing of the voice from any note to one more acute; also, a swelling or augmentation of voice.
11. In astronomy, altitude; the distance of a heavenly body above the horizon, or the arc of a vertical circle intercepted between it and the horizon.
12. In gunnery, the angle which the chace of a cannon or mortar, or the axis of the hollow cylinder, makes with the plane of the horizon. Bailey.
13. In dialing, the angle which the style makes with the substylar line. Bailey.
14. In architecture, a view or perspective of an edifice; a front view of a building or object, drawn to a scale, without regard to perspective; highth above the ground. Haldiman. Elevation of the Host, in popish countries, that part of the mass in which the priest raises the host above his head for the people to adore. Encyc.

EL'E-VA-TOR, n.

1. One who raises, lifts or exalts.
2. In anatomy, a muscle which serves to raise a part of the body, as the lip or the eye.
3. A surgical instrument for raising a depressed portion of a bone. Coxe.
4. In milling, a series of boxes fastened to a strap, and moved by a wheel, to raise grain, meal, &c., to a higher floor.

EL'E-VA-TO-RY, a.

Tending to raise, or having power to elevate. Mantell.

EL'E-VA-TO-RY, n.

An instrument used in trepanning, for raising a depressed or fractured part of the skull. Coxe. Encyc.

EL-EVE, n. [elavai'; Fr.]

One brought up or protected by another. Chesterfield.

E-LEV'EN, a. [elev'n; Sax. ændlefene, endleof, endlufa; Sw. elfva; Dan. elleve; G. and D. elf; Isl. ellefu. Qu. one left after ten.]

Ten and one added; as, eleven men.

E-LEV'ENTH, a. [Sax. ændlyfta, endlefta; Sw. elfte; Dan. ellevte; D. elfde; G. elfte.]

The next in order to the tenth; as, the eleventh chapter.

ELF, n. [plur. Elves. Sax. ælf, or elfenne, a spirit, the nightmar; a ghost, hag or witch; Sw. älfver. In W. el is a moving principle, a spirit; elv is the same; elu is to move onward, to go; elven is an operative cause, a constituent part, an element; and elf is what moves in a simple or pure state, a spirit or demon. From these facts it would seem that elf is from a verb signifying to move, to flow; and älf or elf in Swedish, elv in Danish, is a river, whence Elbe. So spirit is from blowing, a flowing, of air. In Sax. æl is oil and an eel, and ælan is to kindle; all perhaps from the sense of moving, flowing or shooting along. The elf seems to correspond to the demon of the Greeks.]

1. A wandering spirit; a fairy; a hobgoblin; an imaginary being which our rude ancestors supposed to inhabit unfrequented places, and in various ways to affect mankind. Hence in Scottish, elf-shot is an elf-arrow; an arrow-head of flint, supposed to be shot by elfs; and it signifies also a disease supposed to be produced by the agency of spirits. Every elf, and fairy, sprite, / Hop as light as bird from brier. Shak.
2. An evil spirit; a devil. Dryden.
3. A diminutive person. Shenstone.

ELF, v.t.

To entangle hair in so intricate a manner, that it can not be disentangled. This work was formerly ascribed to elves. Johnson. Shak.

ELF'-AR-ROW, n.

A name given to flints in the shape of arrow-heads, vulgarly supposed to be shot by fairies. Encyc.

ELF'-BOLT, n.

An elf-arrow, or flint arrow-head.

ELF'IN, a.

Relating or pertaining to elves. Spenser.

ELF'IN, n.

A little urchin. Shenstone.

ELF'ISH, a.

Resembling elves; clad in disguise. Mason.

ELF-LOCK, n.

A knot of hair twisted by elves. Shak.

ELGIN-MARBLES, n. [Elgin marbles.]

A series of ancient sculptured marbles, named from the Earl of Elgin. They belonged to the temple of Minerva, and other edifices in Athens. They consisted of matchless statues, casts, metopes, &c.

E-LIC'IT, a.

Brought into act; brought from possibility into real existence. [Little used.] Johnson.

E-LIC'IT, v.t. [L. elicio; e or ex and lacio, to allure, D. lokken, G. locken, Sw. locka, Dan. lokker. Class Lg.]

1. To draw out; to bring to light; to deduce by reason or argument; as, to elicit truth by discussion.
2. To strike out; as, to elicit sparks of fire by collision.

E-LIC-IT-A'TION, n.

The act of eliciting; the act of drawing out. Bramhall.

E-LIC'IT-ED, pp.

Brought or drawn out; struck out.