upright
See also: Upright
English
Etymology
From Middle English upright, uppryght, upriht, from Old English upriht (“upright; erect”), from Proto-Germanic *upprehtaz, equivalent to up- + right. Cognate with Saterland Frisian apgjucht (“upright”), West Frisian oprjocht (“upright”), Dutch oprecht (“upright”), German Low German uprecht (“upright”), German aufrecht (“upright”), Swedish upprätt (“upright”), Icelandic upprétt (“upright”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
upright (comparative more upright, superlative most upright)
- Vertical; erect.
- I was standing upright, waiting for my orders.
- 1608, William Shakespeare, The merry Deuill of Edmonton, introduction, lines 1–4
- Fab[ell]: What meanes the tolling of this fatall chime, // O what a trembling horror ſtrikes my hart! // My ſtiffned haire ſtands vpright on my head, // As doe the briſtles of a porcupine.
- 1782, Fanny Burney, Cecilia; or, Memoirs of an Heiress, volume V, Book X, chapter X: “A Termination”, page 372
- Supported by pillows, ſhe ſat almoſt upright.
- 2006, Neil A. Campbell, Biology: concepts & connections, page 404:
- Upright posture evolved well before an enlarged brain in hominids.
- Greater in height than breadth.
- (figuratively) Of good morals; practicing ethical values.
- 1611, King James Version, Job 1:1:
- There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
- 1611, King James Version, Job 1:1:
- (of a golf club) Having the head approximately at a right angle with the shaft.
Synonyms
- (vertical, erect): surrect (obsolete, rare)
Derived terms
Translations
vertical; erect
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greater in height than breadth
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of good morals
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Adverb
upright (comparative more upright, superlative most upright)
- in or into an upright position
Translations
in or into an upright position
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Noun
upright (plural uprights)
- Any vertical part of a structure, especially one of the goal posts in sports.
- 2011 January 5, Mark Ashenden, “Wolverhampton 1 - 0 Chelsea”, in BBC[1]:
- Chelsea improved, with Salomon Kalou denied by goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey and Didier Drogba hitting the upright.
- A word clued by the successive initial, middle, or final letters of the cross-lights in a double acrostic or triple acrostic.
- (informal) An upright piano.
- Short for upright vacuum cleaner.
Holonyms
- (word clued by successive letters): double acrostic, triple acrostic
Related terms
Translations
any vertical part of a structure, especially one of the goal posts in sports
an upright piano
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Verb
upright (third-person singular simple present uprights, present participle uprighting, simple past and past participle uprighted)
- (transitive) To set upright or stand back up (something that has fallen).
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms prefixed with up-
- English terms with audio links
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English adverbs
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English informal terms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs