by right

English

Etymology

From by + right (“that which complies with justice, law or reason; legal, just, or moral entitlement”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /baɪ ˈɹaɪt/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪt

Prepositional phrase

by right (idiomatic)

1. According to what is right, or what one is legally or morally entitled to; justly, properly, rightfully.

   Synonyms: fairly, in fairness, in justice

   The post of vice-president should, by right, have been given to John.

   • 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of the Fifthe Branche, Called Circumspection, Shewed in Reprinse”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour  (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published , →OCLC, 1st book, page 104:

     Whiche praise, with the honour thereunto due, as inheritaunce discendeth by righte unto his most noble sonne, our moste dere soueraigne lorde that nowe presently raigneth. For, as Tulli [i.e., Marcus Tullius Cicero] saithe, the best inheritance that the fathers leue to their children, excellynge all other patrimonie, is the glorie or praise of vertue and noble actis.

   • c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third.  (First Quarto), London: Valentine Sims for Andrew Wise, , published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], signature C, verso:

     A huſband and a ſon thou ovveſt to me, / And thou a kingdome, all of you allegeance: / The ſorrovv that I haue by right is yours, / And all the pleaſures you vſurpe are mine.

   • 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J. M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 45, lines 325–327:

     Ovve not all Creatures by juſt right to thee / Duty and Service, nor to ſtay till bid, / But tender all their povver?

   • 1855, Charles Kingsley, “How Amyas Came Home the First Time”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, , volume I, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 32:

     [T]all and stately men, and fair ladies, worthy of the days when the gentry of England were by due right the leaders of the people, by personal prowess and beauty, as well as by intellect and education.

   • 1863 October 24, Charles Dickens, “Titbull’s Alms-houses”, in The Uncommercial Traveller, new edition, London: Chapman & Hall, , published 1866, →OCLC, page 192, column 2:

     Well, whether the gentlemen really do deprive us of any little matters which ought to be ours by rights, I cannot say for certain; but the opinion of the old ones is they do.

   • 1884, H[enry] Rider Haggard, chapter VII, in Dawn , volume I, London: Hurst and Blackett, , →OCLC, page 101:

     He told me not to tell anyone. I suppose I should not by rights have told you.

   • 2007 September 27, Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood, spoken by Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), Los Angeles, Calif.: Paramount Vantage; Miramax Films, →OCLC:

     The rest will be speculators, that's men trying to get between you and the oilmen to get some of the money that ought, by rights, come to you.

   • 2011 February 21, Eilidh Nisbet, “February 1951”, in Giddy Old School: The Diary of a Swot 1948 to 1951, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 268:

     By rights I ought to have been lolling in bed this morning, but Nancy was ill and I had to goalkeep for the Second.

2. (obsolete) In reality; correctly, to tell the truth, truthfully.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:actually

   • a. 1543 (date written), [Thomas Wyatt], “How the Louer Perisheth in His Delight, as the Flie in the Fire”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: Richard Tottel, published 10 August 1557 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, folio 21, verso:

     And ſome [fowl], becauſe the light doth them offend, / Neuer appeare, but in the darke, or night. / Other reioyce, to ſe the fire ſo bright / And wene to play in it, as they pretend: / Alas, of that ſort may I be, by right. / For to withſtand her loke I am not able: / Yet can I not hide me in no dark place: […]

Alternative forms

• (according to what is right): by rights

Related terms

Translations

References