King George leaves French city, receiving knight to elevate (7)
I believe the answer is:
ennoble
'elevate' is the definition.
(ennobling is a kind of elevating)
'king george leaves french city receiving knight' is the wordplay.
'king george' becomes 'gr' (Georgius Rex).
'leaves' is a deletion indicator.
'french city' becomes 'grenoble' (city in southeastern France).
'receiving' indicates putting letters inside.
'knight' becomes 'n' (chess).
'grenoble' with 'gr' taken away is 'enoble'.
'enoble' going around 'n' is 'ENNOBLE'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for ennoble that I've seen before include "Give peerage to" , "Elevate to the aristocracy" , "Bestow honour upon" , "Bestow high rank upon" , "Noel Ben (anag)" .)