Crossword Genius

Raise the stakes - or go between floors! (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

escalate

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'raise' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for escalate that I've seen before include "Quickly increase in scale" , "Snowball" , "Tease Cal badly and mount up" , "mushroom" , "mount in tension" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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