It appears the process of raising the nosewheel for the purpose of load reduction and not lift off is sanctioned.
Never flown multi planks but thats not my reading of it. It says
is the speed at which the pilot makes a control input, with the intention of lifting the airplane out of contact with the runway or water surface.
which to me says its the speed at which you pull for the aircraft to leave the surface (ground/water). It does not infer to me that you can lift the nose off early (before nominated Vr) in the roll as you suggested. To my mind there may be some wise words in the suggestion made earlier re having the nose on the ground for controlability reasons in the event of an engine out. A TAA Viscount accident at Mangalore while making a three engine take off (#4 feathered) resulted in a loss of control and a fatal accident. The report says ".... directional control depended on some nose wheel steering to supplement any rudder being applied. To ensure full steering effect the nose wheels needed to be held firmly on the ground." Basically the pilot took his hand off the nose wheel steering, the aircraft darted to the side and he then pulled it into the air too early. If the nose is held off before reaching Vr I see the problems as being,
1. Reduced weight on wheels due to lift so reduced braking capacity
2. Lack of nose wheel steering/directional control
3. Surprise factor when the hand grenade goes off beside you ear. When a turbine lets go some times you'd think an A bomb had been detonated - don't ask how I know
4. Reaction time to get the nose down and power off. Until then you can't brake without risking blowing a tyre because of point 1. It does take time and in the mean time the beast has made a dirty dart to the runway edge that you then have to get under control and keep the bird on the black stuff.