aright
See also: a'right
English
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /əˈɹʌɪt/
- (US) IPA(key): /əˈɹaɪt/
- Rhymes: -aɪt
Etymology 1
From Middle English ariȝt, ariht, from Old English āriht (“aright, properly”), from earlier *an riht, on riht (“rightly”), corresponding to a (prep.)- + right.
Adverb
aright (comparative more aright, superlative most aright)
- Rightly, correctly; in the right way or form.
- 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 56, in The Essayes, […], book I, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- it is not easie we should so often settle our minds in so regular, so reformed, and so devout a seat, where indeed it ought to be, to pray aright and effectually: otherwise our praiers are not only vaine and unprofitable, but vicious.
- 1818: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, chapter 24.
- Hear him not; call on the names of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth, my father, and of the wretched Victor, and thrust your sword into his heart. I will hover near and direct the steel aright.
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Etymology 2
From Middle English arighten, arihten (“to raise up”); and Middle English iriȝten, irihten, ȝerihten (“to make right, correct, erect”), from Old English ġerihtan (“to set right”), equivalent to a- + right.
Verb
aright (third-person singular simple present arights, present participle arighting, simple past and past participle arighted)
- (transitive) To make right; put right; arrange or treat properly.
- 2003, John Beebe, Terror, Violence, and the Impulse to Destroy:
- But, from working with those who have felt exiled and damned, excoriated and benumbed, and yet have made it back to useful and creative life again, I know there are more sure, albeit intense, ways to aright oneself.
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Related terms
- eright
References
- aright in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
Anagrams
- Hartig, TIGHAR, graith