Erect

//ɪˈɹɛkt// adj, verb

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Upright; vertical or reaching broadly upwards.

    "Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect—a column in a scene of ruins."

  2. 2
    Rigid, firm; standing out perpendicularly, especially as the result of stimulation.

    "The penis should be fully erect before commencing copulation."

  3. 3
    Having an erect penis or clitoris.

    "OK, baby, I'm erect now. Let's get it on!"

  4. 4
    Bold; confident; free from depression; undismayed. obsolete

    "But who is he, by years / Bowed, but erect in heart?"

  5. 5
    Directed upward; raised; uplifted. obsolete

    "His piercing Eyes, erect, appear to vievv / Superior VVorlds, and look all Nature thro'."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    Watchful; alert.

    "vigilant and erect attention of mind"

  2. 7
    Elevated, as the tips of wings, heads of serpents, etc.
Adjective
  1. 1
    of sexual organs; stiff and rigid wordnet
  2. 2
    upright in position or posture wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To put up by the fitting together of materials or parts. transitive

    "to erect a house or a fort"

  2. 2
    construct, build, or erect wordnet
  3. 3
    To cause to stand up or out. transitive
  4. 4
    cause to rise up wordnet
  5. 5
    To raise and place in an upright or perpendicular position; to set upright; to raise.

    "to erect a pole, a flagstaff, a monument, etc."

Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    To raise and place in an upright or perpendicular position; to set upright; to raise.; To spin up and align to vertical. intransitive

    "As soon as electrical power was restored, the attitude indicators' gyros would have begun to erect."

  2. 7
    To lift up; to elevate; to exalt; to magnify. transitive

    "that didst his state above his hopes erect"

  3. 8
    To animate; to encourage; to cheer. transitive

    "It raiseth the dropping spirit, erecting it to a loving complaisance."

  4. 9
    To cast or draw up (a figure of the heavens, horoscope etc.). transitive

    "In 1581 Parliament made it a statutory felony to erect figures, cast nativities, or calculate by prophecy how long the Queen would live or who would succeed her."

  5. 10
    To enter a state of physiological erection. intransitive

    "On the 17th of July, the patient returned to the country, perfectly healed: the penis erected and he was capable of coition."

  6. 11
    To set up as an assertion or consequence from premises, etc. transitive

    "from fallacious foundations, and misapprehended mediums, erecting conclusions no way inferrible from their premises"

  7. 12
    To set up or establish; to found; to form; to institute. transitive

    "to erect a new commonwealth"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English erect, a borrowing from Latin ērectus (“upright”), past participle of ērigō (“raise, set up”), from ē- (“out”) + regō (“to direct, keep straight, guide”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English erecten, from the adjective (see above).

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: erect