Enhauncen

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaic term meaning to raise something higher or to increase its value, amount, or quality
2. An obsolete verb for lifting, heightening, or enlarging something so that it grows greater in worth or degree
3. Old English form meaning to make something rise, grow, or improve in size, price, or intensity

Etymology: Middle English borrowed "enhauncen" from Old French "enhaucier", built from the prefix "en-" and "hausser", meaning "to raise." That French verb goes back to the Latin "altiare", from "altus", "high," so height is the root idea throughout the family. The same Latin base reached English by other routes. "Exalt" came directly from Latin "exaltare," and "haughty," which once meant simply lofty, comes from the French "haut," also from "altus." Medieval English used the verb for literal lifting and, as a related sense, for raising someone's rank, which is part of why the English forms that survived took on social meanings too.