exaltation

Etymology

From Middle English exaltacioun, exaltatioun, from Old French exaltacion and Latin exaltātiō (“exaltation, elevation”), from exaltō (“raise, elevate, exalt”), from ex (“from, out of”) + altus (“high”).

noun

1. The act of exalting or raising high; also, the state of being exalted; elevation.
2. The refinement or subtilization of a body, or the increasing of its virtue or principal property.
3. (astrology) That placement of a planet in the zodiac in which it is deemed to exert its strongest influence.
   He often stood there in a muse until dusk fell, and then darkness, while once in a while the moon, ‘in her exaltation’ as the astrologers say, rose to remind him that such worldly musings meant nothing to the hostile universe without. 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 483
4. (rare) The collective noun for larks.
   Oh, I, well, I too fell into error, for I frittered away my morning in stalking yonder exaltation of larks, thinking they were dunlin, and in doing so disturbed the only sord of mallards on the whole marsh. 27 Sept. 1893, The Bazaar, the Exchange and Mart, London, page 800, column 3
   In a sense, the editorial cartoons were correct when they suggested that an exaltation of larks can fly under the influence into an aspect of vulturous behavior. 1989, Ronald K. Siegel, Intoxication: The Universal Drive for Mind-Altering Substances, Park Street Press, published 2009, page 192
   “I'd like to think of my father being lifted to God in an exaltation of larks.” 2005, Lucille Bellucci, Journey from Shanghai, iUniverse, published 2005, page 83
   It is said that an exaltation of larks, which had assembled on the roof of Francis's hut, suddenly—and inexplicably—took to the air just after sunset, wheeling and singing. 2005, Linda Bird Francke, On the Road with Francis of Assisi: A Timeless Journey Through Umbria and Tuscany, and Beyond, Random House, published 2006, page 232
5. (medicine, archaic) An abnormal sense of personal well-being, power, or importance, observed as a symptom in various forms of insanity.