Advance, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Advanced; p. pr. & vb. n. Advancing(#).]
Etymology: [OE. avancen, avauncen, F. avancer, fr. a supposed LL. abantiare; ab + ante (F. avant) before. The spelling with d was a mistake, a- being supposed to be fr. L. ad. See Avaunt.]
1. To bring forward; to move towards the van or front; to make to go on.
2. To raise; to elevate. [Archaic] They . . . advanced their eyelids. Shak.
3. To raise to a higher rank; to promote. Ahasueres . . . advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes. Esther iii. 1.
4. To accelerate the growth or progress; to further; to forward; to help on; to aid; to heighten; as, to advance the ripening of fruit; to advance one's interests.
6 more senses
5. To bring to view or notice; to offer or propose; to show; as, to advance an argument. Some ne'er advance a judgment of their own. Pope.
6. To make earlier, as an event or date; to hasten.
7. To furnish, as money or other value, before it becomes due, or in aid of an enterprise; to supply beforehand; as, a merchant advances money on a contract or on goods consigned to him.
8. To raise to a higher point; to enhance; to raise in rate; as, to advance the price of goods.
9. To extol; to laud. [Obs.] Greatly advancing his gay chivalry. Spenser.
Syn. -- To raise; elevate; exalt; aggrandize; improve; heighten; accelerate; allege; adduce; assign.
3 other Webster entries under this spelling
Advance, v. i.
1. To move or go forward; to proceed; as, he advanced to greet me.
2. To increase or make progress in any respect; as, to advance in knowledge, in stature, in years, in price.
3. To rise in rank, office, or consequence; to be preferred or promoted. Advanced to a level with ancient peers. Prescott.
Advance, n.
1. The act of advancing or moving forward or upward; progress.
2. Improvement or progression, physically, mentally, morally, or socially; as, an advance in health, knowledge, or religion; an advance in rank or office.
3. An addition to the price; rise in price or value; as, an advance on the prime cost of goods.
4. The first step towards the attainment of a result; approach made to gain favor, to form an acquaintance, to adjust a difference, etc.; an overture; a tender; an offer; -- usually in the plural. [He] made the like advances to the dissenters. Swift.
5. A furnishing of something before an equivalent is received (as money or goods), towards a capital or stock, or on loan; payment beforehand; the money or goods thus furnished; money or value supplied beforehand. I shall, with pleasure, make the necessary advances. Jay. The account was made up with intent to show what advances had been made. Kent. In advance (a) In front; before. (b) Beforehand; before an equivalent is received. (c) In the state of having advanced money on account; as, A is advance to B a thousand dollars or pounds.
Advance, a.
Before in place, or beforehand in time; -- used for advanced; as, an advance guard, or that before the main guard or body of an army; advance payment, or that made before it is due; advance proofs, advance sheets, pages of a forthcoming volume, received in advance of the time of publication.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for advance; he lists it under allege, amend, progress, promote, quicken.
Where he writes about it:
When an alleged criminal is brought to trial, the counsel on either side are accustomed to advance a theory, and adduce the strongest possible evidence in its support; they will produce documents and witnesses, cite precedents, assign reasons, introduce suggestions, offer pleas. — from allege
Advance, better, and improve may refer either to what is quite imperfect or to what has reached a high degree of excellence; we advance the kingdom of God, improve the minds of our children, better the morals of the people. — from amend
Advance may denote either a forward movement or the point gained by forward movement, but always relatively with reference to the point from which the movement started; as, this is a great advance. — from progress
Advance admits the possibility of retreat; progress (L. progredi, to walk forward) is steady and constant forward movement, admitting of pause, but not of retreat; advance suggests more clearly a point to be reached, while progress lays the emphasis upon the forward movement; we may speak of slow or rapid progress, but more naturally of swift advance. — from progress
In a thing good in itself all advance or progress is improvement; there is a growing tendency to restrict the words to this favorable sense, using increase indifferently of good or evil; one may say without limitation, "I am an advocate of progress." — from progress
To promote a cause is in any way to bring it forward, advance it in power, prominence, etc. — from quicken