aright

See also: a'right

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /əˈɹaɪt/
• Rhymes: -aɪt

Etymology 1

From Middle English ariȝt, ariht, from Old English āriht (“aright, properly”), from earlier *an riht, on riht (“rightly”), corresponding to a- +‎ right.

Adverb

aright (comparative more aright, superlative most aright)

1. Rightly, correctly; in the right way or form.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 56, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     it is not easie we should so often settle our minds in so regular, so reformed, and so devout a seat, where indeed it ought to be, to pray aright and effectually: otherwise our praiers are not only vaine and unprofitable, but vicious.

   • 1818: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, chapter 24.

     Hear him not; call on the names of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth, my father, and of the wretched Victor, and thrust your sword into his heart. I will hover near and direct the steel aright.

   • 1912, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World‎^[1]:

     "Well, gentlemen, have I read you the riddle aright, or is there any point which you would query?"

2. (archaic) To or on the right-hand side.
   • 1801, Robert Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer:

     Once more away! and now
     The long descent is seen,
     A long, long, narrow path.
     Ice rocks aright, and hills of snow,
     Aleft the giddy precipice.

Etymology 2

From Middle English arighten, arihten (“to raise up”); and Middle English iriȝten, irihten, ȝerihten (“to make right, correct, erect”), from Old English ġerihtan (“to set right”), equivalent to a- +‎ right.

Verb

aright (third-person singular simple present arights, present participle arighting, simple past and past participle arighted)

1. (transitive) To make right; put right; arrange or treat properly.
   • 2003, John Beebe, Terror, Violence, and the Impulse to Destroy:

     But, from working with those who have felt exiled and damned, excoriated and benumbed, and yet have made it back to useful and creative life again, I know there are more sure, albeit intense, ways to aright oneself.

Related terms

• eright

References

• aright in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Hartig, TIGHAR, graith