Other forms: uplifts
Uplift is the raising of land by forces below. Tectonic uplift, uplift of the range, rapid uplift.
Mountains rise because plates collide and the crust thickens, and the rate is measured in millimetres a year — which builds an alpine range given a few million. Erosion works against it the whole time. Figuratively, uplift means a raising of spirits, and uplifting is entirely about mood.
1nounupliftThe raising of land by forces below.
“Uplift over millions of years pushed the old seabed up to form these mountains.”
2nounspiritsA raising of spirits.
“The team's surprise win gave the whole town an uplift.”
uplift is a raising.
Up plus lift, a plain English compound. The geological and emotional senses developed separately.
Proto-Indo-European
*lewp- — to peel, break off, damage
Proto-Germanic
*luftijaną — to raise in the air
Old Norse
lypta — to lift, air
Middle English
liften
English
lift
English, today
uplift
Built from
From up- + lift. lift comes from Middle English liften, lyften, from Old Norse lypta (“to lift, air”) literally “to raise in the air”, from Proto-Germanic luftijaną (“to raise in the air”), related to luftuz (“roof, air”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”) or from a root meaning roof (see luftuz). Cognate with Danish - and Norwegian Bokmål løfte (“to lift”), Norwegian Nynorsk - and Swedish lyfta (“to lift”), German lüften (“to air, lift”), Old English lyft (“air”). See above. 1851 for the noun sense "a mechanical device for vertical transport". To steal For this sense Cleasby suggests perhaps a relation to the root of Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌹𐍆𐍄𐌿𐍃 "thief", cognate with Latin cleptus and Greek κλέπτω). But perhaps simply from the idea of removing an item from a surface.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA