to raise the dead

9 9.9

Make a dead person alive again using magic or other power

idiom

: resucitar a los muertos

Now you too can heal, raise the dead, cast out devils.
trying to raise the dead
power to raise the dead
even raise the dead

Demon demons be cast out as real, you know, raising the dead.

Examples

I am going to raise the dead.

Blog text (32)
No one can raise the dead.

The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018)
Have you come to raise the dead?

The Stag (2013)
Trying to raise the dead?

Route 666 (2001)
You wanna raise the dead?

Eve's Bayou (1997)
Time to raise the dead!

Urban Legend (1998)
If anybody can raise the dead... and make 'em pay their rent, it's you.

A Rage in Harlem (1991)
Faith can raise the dead.

Elmer Gantry (1960)
Jesus came to raise the dead.

Blog text (32)
In ancient tales, wizards often claimed they could raise the dead with powerful spells.

Synonyms

to raise

vsto raise the dead

Literature

68 9.1

To cause a spirit or dead person to come, often by magic

specifically focuses on reviving the dead rather than general creation

to resurrect

vsto raise the dead

44 7.3

Bring back to life after death or a long absence

focuses specifically on revival after death, often by supernatural means

to reanimate

vsto raise the dead

16 7.2

To bring back life and energy to a person or thing

implies full revival after death rather than merely restoring energy or vigor

to bring back to life

vsto raise the dead

9 4.8

To make people and things alive or working again

is used mainly for supernatural or miraculous revival after death

to upraise

vsto raise the dead

Archaic

5 9.9

To bring something dead back to life

is the more common term for supernatural revival rather than literary use

Antonyms

to kill

NSFW

∞ 1.0

Cause the death of a person, animal, or other living thing

Surface Forms

raise the dead infinitive

raised the dead past

raised the dead past participle

raising the dead present participle

raises the dead third person singular

Morphology

raise + the + dead

The meaning 'to bring someone back to life' is directly derivable from combining 'raise' (to lift up/bring up or cause to become) with 'the dead' (those who have died); the composition yields the literal idea of causing the dead to live again. This is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common verbal construction and a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the intended supernatural sense.

Etymology

Raise the dead comes from old tales where a person could literally raise a body and lift the dead out of a grave. That's why the phrase now means 'to bring someone or something back to life', usually in a magical or very powerful way.