upright
/ˈʌpɹaɪt/ adjective, adverb, noun, verb, proper noun
Forms uprights uprighting uprighted vpright
- adjective Vertical; erect.
- adjective In its proper orientation; not overturned. “My brother didn't get angry when his son knocked over the lamp; he simply called the boy over and helped him set it upright again.”
- adjective Greater in height than breadth.
- adjective (figuratively, ethics) Of good morals; reliable and trustworthy; practicing ethical values.
- adjective (golf, of a golf club) Having a head at approximately a right angle with the shaft.
- adjective Characterized by a style of running with the head and shoulders held high. “He's an upright runner.”
- adverb In or into an upright position. “I was standing upright, waiting for my orders.”
- adverb (sports) On one's feet (as opposed to in a wheelchair). “Amputee hockey is played upright.”
- noun Any vertical part of a structure, especially a part that provides support.
- noun (soccer) A goal post.
- noun (American football) The poles of a field goal post.
- noun (slang) A leg.
- noun (camping) A tentpole that holds aloft the center or sides of a tent.
- noun The state of being vertical or perpendicular. “Can you fix that? It's out of upright.”
- noun (informal) Characterized by being awake and out of bed.
- noun A word clued by the successive initial, middle, or final letters of the cross-lights in a double acrostic or triple acrostic.
- verb (transitive) To set upright or stand back up (something that has fallen).
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
orthograde surrect standing up vertical upright piano unsloped good just erect
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 uppréttur (“upright”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective In an erect position or posture; perpendicular; vertical, or nearly vertical; pointing upward; as, an upright tree.
- adjective Morally erect; having rectitude; honest; just; as, a man upright in all his ways.
- noun Something standing upright, as a piece of timber in a building.
Etymology [AS. upright, uppriht. See Up, and Right, a.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “upright”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details