Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Upright

Up′rightˊ

,
Adj.
[AS.
upright
,
uppriht
. See
Up
, and
Right
,
Adj.
]
1.
In an erect position or posture; perpendicular; vertical, or nearly vertical; pointing upward;
as, an
upright
tree
.
With chattering teeth, and bristling hair
upright
.
Dryden.
All have their ears
upright
.
Spenser.
2.
Morally erect; having rectitude; honest; just;
as, a man
upright
in all his ways
.
And that man [Job] was perfect and
upright
.
Job i. 1.
3.
Conformable to moral rectitude.
Conscience rewards
upright
conduct with pleasure.
J. M. Mason.
4.
Stretched out face upward; flat on the back.
[Obs.]
“ He lay upright.”
Chaucer.
Upright drill
(Mach.)
,
a drilling machine having the spindle vertical.
☞ This word and its derivatives are usually pronounced in prose with the accent on the first syllable. But they are frequently pronounced with the accent on the second in poetry, and the accent on either syllable is admissible.

Up′rightˊ

,
Noun.
1.
Something standing upright, as a piece of timber in a building. See Illust. of
Frame
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Upright

UPRIGHT

,
Adj.
upri'te or up'rite. [up and right. This word is marked in books with the accent on the first syllable. But it is frequently pronounced with the accent on the second, and the accent on the first syllable of its derivatives is inadmissible.]
1.
Erect; perpendicular to the plane of the horizon; as an upright tree; an upright post. Among mechanics, plumb.
2.
Erected; pricked up; shooting directly from the body.
All have their ears upright -
With chatt'ring teeth and bristling hair upright.
3.
Honest; just; adhering to rectitude in all social intercourse; not deviating from correct moral principles; as an upright man. Job. 1.
4.
Conformable to moral rectitude.
Conscience rewards upright conduct with pleasure.

Definition 2024


upright

upright

English

Adjective

upright (comparative more upright, superlative most upright)

  1. 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.
  2. Greater in height than breadth.
  3. (figuratively) Of good morals; practicing ethical values.
  4. (of a golf club) Having the head approximately at a right angle with the shaft.

Synonyms

  • (vertical, erect): surrect (obsolete, rare)

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

upright (comparative more upright, superlative most upright)

  1. in or into an upright position

Translations

Noun

upright (plural uprights)

  1. 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:
      Chelsea improved, with Salomon Kalou denied by goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey and Didier Drogba hitting the upright.
  2. A word clued by the successive initial, middle, or final letters of the cross-lights in a double acrostic or triple acrostic.
  3. (informal) An upright piano.
  4. Short for upright vacuum cleaner.

Holonyms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

upright (third-person singular simple present uprights, present participle uprighting, simple past and past participle uprighted)

  1. (transitive) To set upright or stand back up (something that has fallen).