El`e*va"tion (?), n. [L. elevatio: cf. F. élévation.]
1. The act of raising from a lower place, condition, or quality to
a higher; -- said of material things, persons, the mind, the
voice, etc.; as, the elevation of grain; elevation to a throne; elevation of mind, thoughts, or character.
2. Condition of being elevated; height; exaltation.
"Degrees of elevation
above us." Locke.
His style . . .
wanted a little elevation.
Sir H. Wotton.
3. That which is raised up or
elevated; an elevated place or station; as, an elevation of the ground; a
hill.
4.
(Astron.) The distance of a
celestial object above the horizon, or the arc of a vertical circle intercepted between it and the horizon; altitude; as, the elevation of the pole, or of a star.
5. (Dialing) The angle which the style makes with the substylar line.
6. (Gunnery) The movement of the axis of a piece in a vertical
plane; also, the angle of
elevation, that is, the angle
between the axis of the piece and the
line o&?; sight; -- distinguished
from direction.
7.
(Drawing) A
geometrical projection of
a building, or other object, on a plane perpendicular to the horizon; orthographic
projection on a vertical plane; -- called by the ancients the orthography.
Angle of elevation (Geodesy), the angle which an ascending line makes with a horizontal plane. -- Elevation
of the host (R. C.
Ch.), that part of the Mass in which the
priest raises the host above his head for
the people to adore.
Hear it pronounced