English encounters rising regard (6)
I believe the answer is:
esteem
'regard' is the definition.
(esteeming is a kind of regarding)
'english encounters rising' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'encounters' becomes 'meets' ('meet' can be a synonym of 'encounter').
'rising' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (going up in a down clue).
'meets' reversed gives 'steem'.
'e'+'steem'='ESTEEM'
(Other definitions for esteem that I've seen before include "Value highly" , "credit" , "Revere(nce)" , "Look upon favourably" , "Floor covering" .)