erect

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈɹɛkt/
• Rhymes: -ɛkt
• Hyphenation: erect

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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”).

erect (comparative more erect, superlative most erect)

1. Upright; vertical or reaching broadly upwards.
   • 1788, Edward Gibbon, chapter LXIV, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume VI, London: W Strahan; and T Cadell, , →OCLC:

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

2. (of body parts) Rigid, firm; standing out perpendicularly, especially as the result of stimulation.

   Synonyms: hard, stiff

   The penis should be fully erect before commencing copulation.

   erect nipples

3. (of a person) Having an erect penis or clitoris.

   Synonyms: hard, stiff

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

4. (obsolete) Bold; confident; free from depression; undismayed.
   • 1827, [John Keble], The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C and J Rivington, , →OCLC:

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

5. (obsolete) Directed upward; raised; uplifted.
   • 1715, [Alexander] Pope, The Temple of Fame: A Vision, London: Bernard Lintott , →OCLC, page 23:

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

6. Watchful; alert.
   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, , London: Will Stansby , published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     vigilant and erect attention of mind

7. (heraldry) Elevated, as the tips of wings, heads of serpents, etc.

• (antonym(s) of “rigid; standing out perpendicularly”): flaccid

• erectable
• semierect

• erect-crested penguin
• erectile
• erection
• erigible

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

erect (third-person singular simple present erects, present participle erecting, simple past and past participle erected)

1. (transitive) To put up by the fitting together of materials or parts.

   to erect a house or a fort

2. (transitive) To cause to stand up or out.
3. To raise and place in an upright or perpendicular position; to set upright; to raise.

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

   1. (intransitive, aviation, of a gyroscopic attitude indicator) To spin up and align to vertical.

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

4. (transitive) To lift up; to elevate; to exalt; to magnify.
   • 1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: P Short for Simon Waterson, →OCLC:

     that didst his state above his hopes erect

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern; , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

     , Preface

     I, who am a party, am not to erect myself into a judge.

5. (transitive) To animate; to encourage; to cheer.
   • a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). Of Contentment”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. , volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A J Valpy, , published 1830–1831, →OCLC:

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

6. (transitive, astrology) To cast or draw up (a figure of the heavens, horoscope etc.).
   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 332:

     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.

7. (intransitive) To enter a state of physiological erection.
   • 1828, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, page 113:

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

   • 1917, Brain: A Journal of Neurology, page 292:

     On an adequate stimulus the penis erected, the testes were drawn up, and the dartos muscle slowly contracted.

   • 2008 September 15, Naval Ahmed, Blue Moon On Bandideau, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 234:

     His black dick erected with a long bend.

   • 2012 July 12, Tim Glover, Mating Males: An Evolutionary Perspective on Mammalian Reproduction, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 126:

     When the penis erects, blood pours into what erectile tissue there is and enlarges the penis somewhat, but by making it turgid, the S-shaped bend is straightened out and the penis extends.

8. (transitive) To set up as an assertion or consequence from premises, etc.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: , London: T H for Edward Dod, , →OCLC:

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

   • a. 1705, John Locke, “An Examination of P[ère] Malebranche’s Opinion of Seeing All Things in God”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: , London: A and J Churchill, , published 1706, →OCLC:

     Malebranche erects this proposition.

9. (transitive) To set up or establish; to found; to form; to institute.
   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, , London: Will Stansby , published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     to erect a new commonwealth

   • 1812, Arthur Collins & Sir Egerton Brydges, Peerage of England, F.C. and J. Rivington et al, page 330:

     In 1686, he was appointed one of the Commissioners in the new ecclesiastical commission erected by King James, and was proud of that honour.

• build

• erecting shop
• re-erect, reerect

• -crete, Crete, recte, terce

Borrowed from Latin erectus.

erect m or n (feminine singular erectă, masculine plural erecți, feminine and neuter plural erecte)

1. erect