Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Raise \Raise\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Raised}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Raising}.] [OE. reisen, Icel. reisa, causative of r[=i]sa to
   rise. See {Rise}, and cf. {Rear} to raise.]
   1. To cause to rise; to bring from a lower to a higher place;
      to lift upward; to elevate; to heave; as, to raise a stone
      or weight. Hence, figuratively:
      (a) To bring to a higher condition or situation; to
          elevate in rank, dignity, and the like; to increase
          the value or estimation of; to promote; to exalt; to
          advance; to enhance; as, to raise from a low estate;
          to raise to office; to raise the price, and the like.

                This gentleman came to be raised to great
                titles.                           --Clarendon.

                The plate pieces of eight were raised three
                pence in the piece.               --Sir W.
                                                  Temple.
      (b) To increase the strength, vigor, or vehemence of; to
          excite; to intensify; to invigorate; to heighten; as,
          to raise the pulse; to raise the voice; to raise the
          spirits or the courage; to raise the heat of a
          furnace.
      (c) To elevate in degree according to some scale; as, to
          raise the pitch of the voice; to raise the temperature
          of a room.

   2. To cause to rise up, or assume an erect position or
      posture; to set up; to make upright; as, to raise a mast
      or flagstaff. Hence:
      (a) To cause to spring up from recumbent position, from a
          state of quiet, or the like; to awaken; to arouse.

                They shall not awake, nor be raised out of their
                sleep.                            --Job xiv. 12.
      (b) To rouse to action; to stir up; to incite to tumult,
          struggle, or war; to excite.

                He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind.
                                                  --Ps. cvii.
                                                  25.

                [AE]neas . . . employs his pains, In parts
                remote, to raise the Tuscan swains. --Dryden.
      (c) To bring up from the lower world; to call up, as a
          spirit from the world of spirits; to recall from
          death; to give life to.

                Why should it be thought a thing incredible with
                you, that God should raise the dead ? --Acts
                                                  xxvi. 8.

   3. To cause to arise, grow up, or come into being or to
      appear; to give to; to originate, produce, cause, effect,
      or the like. Hence, specifically:
      (a) To form by the accumulation of materials or
          constituent parts; to build up; to erect; as, to raise
          a lofty structure, a wall, a heap of stones.

                I will raise forts against thee.  --Isa. xxxix.
                                                  3.
      (b) To bring together; to collect; to levy; to get
          together or obtain for use or service; as, to raise
          money, troops, and the like. ``To raise up a rent.''
          --Chaucer.
      (c) To cause to grow; to procure to be produced, bred, or
          propagated; to grow; as, to raise corn, barley, hops,
          etc.; toraise cattle. ``He raised sheep.'' ``He raised
          wheat where none grew before.'' --Johnson's Dict.

Raising \Rais"ing\, n.
   1. The act of lifting, setting up, elevating, exalting,
      producing, or restoring to life.

   2. Specifically, the operation or work of setting up the
      frame of a building; as, to help at a raising. [U.S.]

Source : WordNet®

raising
     adj : increasing in quantity or value; "a cost-raising increase in
           the basic wage rate"

raising
     n 1: the event of something being raised upward; "an elevation of
          the temperature in the afternoon"; "a raising of the
          land resulting from volcanic activity" [syn: {elevation},
           {lift}]
     2: the properties acquired as a consequence of the way you were
        treated as a child [syn: {rearing}, {nurture}]
     3: raising someone to be an accepted member of the community;
        "they debated whether nature or nurture was more
        important" [syn: {breeding}, {bringing up}, {fostering}, {fosterage},
         {nurture}, {rearing}, {upbringing}]