to say (reverential of itoa); to make a great effort; increase; grow
Robert Haskett and Stephanie Wood's notes from Nahuatl sessions with James Lockhart and subsequent research.
Alonso de Molina:
Molhuia yn cocoliztli. crecer la pestilencia o enfermedad. Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, f. 58v.