El`e*va"tion (?), n. [L. elevatio: cf. F. 'el'evation.]
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.
© Webster 1913.