Upright

/ˈʌpɹaɪt/ adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang

adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any vertical part of a structure.

    "On the change in architectural forms from the pyramidal to the obeliscar, the fires were transferred from the altars, or cubes, to the summits of the typical uprights, or towers; […]"

  2. 2
    a piano with a vertical sounding board wordnet
  3. 3
    Any vertical part of a structure.; A goal post.

    "Chelsea improved, with Salomon Kalou denied by goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey and Didier Drogba hitting the upright."

  4. 4
    a vertical structural member as a post or stake wordnet
  5. 5
    Any vertical part of a structure.; A leg. slang
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    A word clued by the successive initial, middle, or final letters of the cross-lights in a double acrostic or triple acrostic.
  2. 7
    Short for upright piano abbreviation, alt-of, informal
  3. 8
    Short for upright arcade game cabinet abbreviation, alt-of, informal

    "The video arcade machines are typically in stand up arcade cabinets, although some have been built as tables. The uprights have a monitor and controls in front and players insert coins or tokens into the machines to play the game."

  4. 9
    Ellipsis of upright vacuum cleaner. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
  5. 10
    The tips of the antlers of a young deer. British, dialectal, obsolete
Verb
  1. 1
    To set upright or stand back up (something that has fallen). transitive
Adjective
  1. 1
    Vertical; erect.

    "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."

  2. 2
    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."

  3. 3
    Greater in height than breadth.
  4. 4
    Of good morals; practicing ethical values. figuratively

    "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."

  5. 5
    Having the head approximately at a right angle with the shaft.
Adjective
  1. 1
    in a vertical position; not sloping wordnet
  2. 2
    upright in position or posture wordnet
  3. 3
    of moral excellence wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    In or into an upright position.

    "I was standing upright, waiting for my orders."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Example

More examples

"He sits upright, not crouched over his plate like an animal at a feeding trough."

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”).

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