soar

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To rise, fly, or glide high and with little apparent effort.
2. v. To climb swiftly or powerfully.
3. v. To glide in an aircraft while maintaining altitude.
4. v. To ascend suddenly above the normal or usual level: Our spirits soared. See Synonyms at rise.
5. n. The act of soaring.
6. n. The altitude or scope attained in soaring.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To mount on wings, or as on wings, through the air; fly aloft, as a bird or other winged creature; specifically, to rise and remain on the wing without visible movements of the pinions. The specific mode of night is specially distinguished from any one in which the wings are flapped to beat the air; hut the term soaring is also loosely applied to any light, easy flight to a great height with little advance in any other direction, whatever be the action of the wings, as of a skylark rising nearly vertically from the ground. In the case of heavy-bodied, short-winged birds which fly up thus, the action is often specified as rocketing or towering (see these verbs). A kind of swift wayward soaring, as of the swallow, is often called skimming. Soaring specifically so called, or sailing on the air, is best shown in the flight of long-winged birds, whether their wings be either narrow and sharp, or ample and blunt, as the albatross, frigate, and some other sea-birds, storks, cranes, and some other large waders, turkey-buzzards and other vultures, eagles, kites, and some other large birds of prey. It is capable of being indefinitely protracted, either on a horizontal plane, or at a considerable inclination upward, at least in some cases; but most birds which soar to a higher level without beating the wings take a spiral course, mounting as much as they can on that part of each lap which is against the wind, and this action is usually specified as gyrating or circling.
2. To mount or rise aloft; rise, or seem to rise, lightly in the air.
3. To float, as at the surface of a liquid.
4. To rise mentally, morally, or socially; aspire beyond the commonplace or ordinary level.
5. n. The act of soaring, or rising in the air.
6. n. The height attained in soaring; the range of one who or that which soars.
7. n. See sore.

Wiktionary

1. v. To fly aloft with little effort, as a bird.
2. v. To mount upward on wings, or as on wings.
3. v. To fly by means of a glider or other unpowered aircraft.
4. v. To rise, especially rapidly or unusually high.
5. v. figuratively To rise in thought, spirits, or imagination; to be exalted in mood.
6. n. The act of soaring.
7. n. An upward flight.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To fly aloft, as a bird; to mount upward on wings, or as on wings.
2. v. Fig.: To rise in thought, spirits, or imagination; to be exalted in mood.
3. v. (Aëronautics) To fly by wind power; to glide indefinitely without loss of altitude.
4. n. The act of soaring; upward flight.
5. adj. obsolete See 3d sore.
6. adj. See sore, reddish brown.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. fly by means of a hang glider
2. v. go or move upward
3. v. rise rapidly
4. v. fly upwards or high in the sky
5. n. the act of rising upward into the air
6. v. fly a plane without an engine