Is there an English transitive verb meaning "to make someone/something valuable"?

I'm thinking something along the lines of "imbue" or "instill", but neither of those words work perfectly unless you append "with value".

Ideally this would be a word that's used in a subject/object context, i.e. [subject] ____ [object to be made valuable], so something like "appreciate" doesn't quite work.

"Enrich" is the best I've come up with, but I'm curious if there's anything more interesting.

Solution 1:

There is one. No one uses it.

invalue, v.²

transitive. To make valuable; to give value to.

Literally no one. The OED notes that, as far as it can tell, it has only shown up in dictionaries glossing Latin invalidare or filling things out as a possible coinage. It hasn't been seen in the wild.

Incidentially, it's even less useful than it looks at first glance. That ² is there because there's an invalue, v.¹ which uses the other sense of the prefix in- to offer the exact opposite meaning: to reckon of no value or worth. That has (rarely) shown up in actual usage.

There are words for what you're trying to say but they're generally describing natural processes (interest and inflation naturally accrue or grow), recognizing the already intrinsic worth of something (antiques and mineral lodes can be discovered, recognized, appreciated, &c), or creating undeserved worth for untoward ends (talk up, pump, gild, &c). For all of those, though, the context needs to be clarified before the meaning will be clear. They won't have a simple abstract meaning of to increase sth in value on their own.

Solution 2:

endear (historically)

I've had to think of a popular answer that I had once given - before closing my account - on StackExchange : Why do Russians call their women expensive (“дорогая”)?

In Old English "dear" (deore) meant "precious, valuable; costly, expensive; glorious, noble; loved, beloved, regarded with affection". In the 1580s "to endear" was recordedly used with the general meaning "to enhance the value of". Today you may still interpret "to endear (somebody to someone)" as "to make (somebody) valuable (to someone)".

Admittedly this is of limited value a few centuries later, but you and other readers of the question might still consider it interesting.

Solution 3:

Valorize. The original term is adapted from the French mettre en valeur, but it has made its way into English, mostly in “international” writing (UN, OECD, etc.) where a noble sentiment must be expressed in multiple languages.

Here’s one of multiple dictionary references: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/valorize

If you read official documents written in Canada, you soon get accustomed to seeing mettre en valeur translated straight across as valorize, and mise en valeur translated as valorization. People who prepare original drafts simultaneously in English and French tend to harmonize them, even if the wording ends up being stilted in one or both languages.

In many cases, strict equivalence in the reading of the translation is more important than literary style.