upright Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a vertical structural member as a post or stake
vertical.
- the ball sailed between the uprights
noun a piano with a vertical sounding board
upright piano.
adjective satellite in a vertical position; not sloping
unsloped.
- an upright post
adjective satellite of moral excellence
good; just.
- a genuinely good person
- a just cause
- an upright and respectable man
adjective upright in position or posture
vertical; erect.
- an erect stature
- erect flower stalks
- for a dog, an erect tail indicates aggression
- a column still vertical amid the ruins
- he sat bolt upright

AS. upright, uppriht. See Up, and Right, a.

In an erect position or posture; perpendicular; vertical, or nearly vertical; pointing upward; as, an upright tree.
With chattering teeth, and bristling hair upright. Dryden.

All have their ears upright. Spenser.
Morally erect; having rectitude; honest; just; as, a man upright in all his ways.
And that man [Job] was perfect and upright. Job i. 1.
Conformable to moral rectitude.
Conscience rewards upright conduct with pleasure. J. M. Mason.
Stretched out face upward; flat on the back. Obs. " He lay upright." Chaucer. ✍ This word and its derivatives are usually pronounced in prose with the accent on the first syllable. But they are frequently pronounced with the accent on the second in poetry, and the accent on either syllable is admissible.

Something standing upright, as a piece of timber in a building. See Illust. of Frame.