Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Relieve

Relieve (r?-l?v") , transitive verb

[Old English releven, French relever to raise again, discharge, relieve, from Latin relevare to lift up, raise, make light, relieve; pref. re- re- + levare to raise, from levis light. See Levity, and compare Relevant, Relief.]

1.
To lift up; to raise again, as one who has fallen; to cause to rise. [Obsolete] — Piers Plowman
2.
To cause to seem to rise; to put in relief; to give prominence or conspicuousness to; to set off by contrast.
Her tall figure relieved against the blue sky; seemed almost of supernatural height. — Sir W. Scott
3.
To raise up something in; to introduce a contrast or variety into; to remove the monotony or sameness of.
The poet must... sometimes relieve the subject with a moral reflection. — Addison
4.
To raise or remove, as anything which depresses, weighs down, or crushes; to render less burdensome or afflicting; to alleviate; to abate; to mitigate; to lessen; as, to relieve pain; to relieve the wants of the poor.
5.
To free, wholly or partly, from any burden, trial, evil, distress, or the like; to give ease, comfort, or consolation to; to give aid, help, or succor to; to support, strengthen, or deliver; as, to relieve a besieged town.
Now lend assistance and relieve the poor. — Dryden
6.
To release from a post, station, or duty; to put another in place of, or to take the place of, in the bearing of any burden, or discharge of any duty.
Who hath relieved you? — Shakespeare
7.
To ease of any imposition, burden, wrong, or oppression, by judicial or legislative interposition, as by the removal of a grievance, by indemnification for losses, or the like; to right.