erect

Formserects, erecting, erected

1. 1
   adjective

   Held upright and vertical, or reaching broadly upward.

   A row of erect cypress trees lined the entrance to the villa.

   The dancer held her spine erect through every turn.

   Similarupright, vertical, straight, perpendicular

   Oppositestooped, bent

   Note

   The sense the whole family grows from. Latin ērectus, “upright,” is the past participle of ērigō, “to raise, set up,” built from ē- “out” and regō “to keep straight, guide.” What is erect has been set up straight. The word can also stand figuratively. In 1788 Edward Gibbon calls Philadelphia “still erect” among the ruins of Asia, a city upright like a surviving column.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To put something up by fitting its materials or parts together.

   Workers erect the scaffolding before any painting begins.

   They erected a wooden frame for the new barn.

   Similarbuild, construct, assemble, raise

   Oppositedismantle, demolish

   Note

   The verb was made from the adjective in Middle English (erecten), so to erect something was first to make it erect. In this building sense the object is a structure put together from parts: a house, a fort, scaffolding, the frame of a barn. In everyday talk, put up or build usually does the same job.

3. 3
   adjective

   Stiffened and standing straight out from a surface, especially in response to stimulation such as cold or touch.

   Cold air left the fine hairs along her neck erect.

   The frightened porcupine held every quill erect.

   Similarhard, stiff

   Oppositeflat

   Note

   Here the stress falls on stiffness, not direction. Its near synonyms are hard and stiff, and it is said of body parts: nipples, a penis, raised hairs or quills. Something can be upright without being erect in this sense. Context decides which meaning a reader hears, so when only posture is meant, upright avoids the ambiguity.

4. 4
   adjective

   Having a penis or clitoris that is firm and standing out from sexual arousal.

   He remained erect long after their first kiss ended.

   Aroused, she found herself erect and sensitive to the lightest touch.

   Similarhard, stiff

   Oppositeflaccid, limp

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To raise something and set it in an upright or perpendicular position.

   Sailors erect the mast before leaving the harbor.

   The crew erected a tall antenna on the rooftop.

   Similarraise, hoist

   Oppositelower

   Note

   Here the object goes up whole rather than being assembled: a pole, a flagstaff, a monument, a mast. That is the line between this sense and the building sense. A fort is erected from its parts, but a flagstaff is erected by being raised upright as a single piece. The verb names the lift, not the construction.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To make something rise and stand up or stand out.

   Some lizards erect a frill to frighten off rivals.

   The dog erected the hair along its spine.

   Similarraise, lift

   Oppositelower, flatten

7. 7
   verbintransitive

   Of the penis or clitoris, to become rigid and engorged through arousal.

   Under arousal, the penis begins to erect within seconds.

   The organ erects as blood inflow increases and outflow narrows.

   Similarstiffen, harden

   Note

   The organ itself is the subject here, and the verb takes no object: “the penis erected.” Medical writing has used it this way since The American Journal of the Medical Sciences in 1828, and Tim Glover's Mating Males (2012) carries it into evolutionary biology. For making something stand up, the verb's transitive counterpart is causing something to stand up.

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To set up or establish something, such as an institution or organization.

   The reformers sought to erect a new framework of government.

   They erected a foundation to support young artists.

   Similarestablish, found, create, institute, form

   Oppositeabolish, dissolve

   Note

   Institutions rather than buildings are put up here. Richard Hooker writes of erecting “a new commonwealth,” and Arthur Collins and Sir Egerton Brydges's Peerage of England (1812) describes an ecclesiastical commission “erected by King James” in 1686. The objects are bodies with members and rules. Establish or set up is the everyday choice, while erect gives the founding a deliberate, built air.

9. 9
   verbtransitive

   To set up a claim or conclusion as following from given premises.

   From these axioms the philosopher tried to erect an entire theory of mind.

   He erected sweeping conclusions upon a single observation.

   Similarbuild, construct, base, found

   Note

   Argument is pictured as building. Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) complains of men who, “from fallacious foundations,” go on “erecting conclusions no way inferrible from their premises,” putting foundations and erecting in one breath. John Locke uses the verb plainly: “Malebranche erects this proposition.” Its objects are conclusions, propositions and theories, and it often hints that the structure may not bear its own weight.

10. 10
    verbtransitive

    To raise up, elevate, or exalt; to hold someone or something in high honor.

    Ancient orators sought to erect the city's glory through their speeches.

    The chronicle erected the founder's deeds far above those of his rivals.

    Similarexalt, elevate, raise

    Note

    Rank and honor are what get raised here, not objects. Samuel Daniel in 1595 addresses one “that didst his state above his hopes erect.” A useful construction is the reflexive erect oneself into, meaning to set oneself up as something: “I, who am a party, am not to erect myself into a judge.” It is usually said of a role one has no right to claim.

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