▪ I. right, n.1
(raɪt)
Forms: 1 riaht, reoht, reht, rict, 1–5 (6) riht, 3 rih(te, rihht, 3–4 rihtt; 3 riþt, 4 rith, rit, 5 rite; 2, 5– Sc. richt (4 -te), 4–5 riȝt(e, 4 riȝtt), 5 reght, righte, 4– right; 1, 4 ryht (4 rythe, ryte), 5–7 Sc. rycht; 4–5 ryȝt(e, 4–6 ryght (4–5 rygth, ryghth), 5–6 ryghte.
[OE. riht, ryht, etc., = OFris. riucht (mod.Fris. rjucht), OS., OHG. reht (Du. and G. recht), ON. réttr (Da. ret, Sw. rätt), related to right a.]
I. † 1. The standard of permitted and forbidden action within a certain sphere; law; a rule or canon. Obs.
| c 900 Baeda's Hist. iv. v. (1890) 276 Licade us efencuman æfter þeawe arwyrðra rehta [L. iuxta morem canonum venerabilium]. 971 Blickl. Hom. 135 Þa men þe..wiðer⁓wearde wæron Godes beboda & þæs gastlican rihtes. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 114 Fas, Godes riht. Jus, mennisc riht. Ibid. 115 Rodia lex, scipmanna riht. c 1200 Ormin 7202 Herode king wass grill..whannse he seþ þatt Godess rihht & Godess laȝhe riseþþ. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 427/1 Ful of grete scyence bothe in ryght cyuyl and in cannon. 1610 Willet Dan. 356 These doe not distinguish betweene the ceasing of the sacrifices in right and in fact. |
† 2. That which is proper for or incumbent on one to do; one's duty.
Obs.| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxi. 159 Ðæt ðonne bið ðæs recceres ryht ðæt he ðurh ða stemne his lariowdomes ætiewe ðæt wuldor ðæs uplican eðles. a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 1 (Grein), Vs is riht micel, ðæt we rodera weard..wordum heriᵹen. a 1225 Ancr. R. 134 Ichulle deien i mine neste, & beon as dead þerinne: vor þet is ancre rihte: & wunien uort heo deie þerinne. Ibid. 142 Vor þet is ancre rihte, muchel uor to wakien. |
3. a. That which is consonant with equity or the light of nature; that which is morally just or due. (Often contrasted with
might and
wrong, and in
ME. freq. coupled with
reason or
skill.)
| Beowulf 1700 Þæt la mæᵹ secᵹan, se þe soð & riht fremeð on folce. c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxviii. §7 Ne þæt nis nan riht þæt mon þone yflan hatiᵹe. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 48 Ᵹif se lareow riht tæce, do ᵹehwa swa-swa he tæcð. c 1123 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1123, He sæde þone cyng þæt hit wæs togeanes riht þæt man scolde setten clerc ofer muneces. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 961 Hit is aȝein riht,..þæt godd, þe is undedlich mahe deð drehen. c 1250 Owl & Night. 950 Þe heorte..so uorleost al his lyht, Þat ho ne syhþ soþ ne riht. a 1300 Cursor M. 29 Þe wrang to here o right is lath. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 622 Ay þe ofter, þe alder þay were, Þay laften ryȝt & wroȝten woghe. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 351 If ther were..such a kniht That wolde sein it was no riht, I wole it with my bodi prove. c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 1219 Now wil I be obeyand, And make the manrent with hand, As right is, and skill. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems l. 52, I cry him Lord of everie fuill,..And, verralie, that war gryt rycht. 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. ix. 119 Too age it dooth belong Too keepe the rigor of the lawes and search out ryght from wrong. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 116 Force should be right, or rather, right and wrong..Should loose her names. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 572 Self-esteem, grounded on just and right Well manag'd. 1737 Gentl. Mag. VII. 131/1 You must acknowledge a Distinction betwixt Right and Wrong, founded in Nature,..by which Actions may be call'd just or unjust. 1757 W. Wilkie Epigoniad iv. 118 So let their blood be shed, who scorning right, Shall impiously dare its ties to slight. 1832 Tennyson Œnone 147 Because right is right, to follow right Were wisdom. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 46 We judge a stranger by our home-bred ways, Who, maybe, walks by other rule of right. |
| Comb. 1865 Ruskin Sesame ii. §90 Rex et Regina,..‘Right-doers’. 1874 W. P. Mackay Grace & Truth 202 Many moral, unconverted men are specimens of the highest external right-doing. 1896 Morley in Westm. Gaz. 7 Nov. 4/2, I am for a safe England,..a just England, a right-doing England. |
b. The fact or position of being in the right (
cf. 6 b). Chiefly in
phr. to have right. Now
rare.
| c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 1282 Whan I had wrong and she ryght, She wolde alwey so goodely For-yeve me. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 5534 Right maketh a feble man strong. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 74 Had the pape Clement had rycht his folk had nocht bene in bataill disconfyte. c 1500 Melusine 128 We haue good right in oure caas; they are come vpon vs without cause. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Jus, The indifferent iudge attributed victorie to him..to whome right appeared. 1604 T. Wright Passions (1620) 117 Whether you have right or wrong, I knowe you must have the last word. 1822 Scott Peveril xxix, The bigots have some right when they affirm that all is for the best. 1865 Kingsley Hereward xxvii, ‘The king has right!’ cried Hereward. ‘Let them take the plunder’ [etc.]. |
c. Consonance with fact; correctness.
| 1796 Burke Regic. Peace ii. (1892) 126 Whether..there was some mixture of right and wrong in their reasoning. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps iv. §xxviii. 118, I can but rapidly name the chief conditions of right. 1867 ― Time & Tide x. §51 And yet..there was something of right in the terrors of this clerical conclave. |
4. a. Just or equitable treatment; fairness in decision; justice. Freq. in
phr. to do (one) right.
| c 900 in Thorpe Dipl. Angl. Sax. (1865) 140 Þa cwædon ealle þa weotan þæt mon uðe þære cyrcan rihtes swa wel swa oðerre. c 1205 Lay. 2511 Heo was swa swiðe wel bi-þouht, þat ælche monne heo dude riht. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 52 Ðat wise wil, ðat weldet alle ðinge wit riȝt and skil. a 1300 Cursor M. 1796 All tok a right, bath pouer and Rike; All hade a dom, bath riche and pour. 1375 Barbour Bruce xvi. 598 The gilt spuris..He suld in hy ger hew ȝow fra; Richt vald with cowardis men did swa. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483) i. ii. 3 Come byfore the Iuge and he shal do the ryght. c 1450 Burgh Secrees 2051 Ryght and the Kyng as brethryn owen to be. 1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. vi. 23 Then heare thou from heauen, and se y{supt} thy seruaunt haue righte. 1565 Cooper s.v. Jus, Nundinatio iuris, sellyng of right and iustice. 1589 Lodge Scillaes Metam. (Hunterian Cl.) 20 Which spectacle of care made Thetis..call on Glaucus, and command her Sonne To yeelde her right. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. i. xi. 34, I can do her memorie no better right, then to confesse she was wrong in somethings. 1691 T. H[ale] Account New Invent. 86 In right to his Majesty and his Service, no less than to it and themselves. 1735 Somerville Chase ii. 71 Oh! were a Theban Lyre not wanting here, And Pindar's Voice, to do their merit right! 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xx, To petition the King, as a matter of right, that the murder of their fellow-citizen should be inquired into. 1842 Browning Cavalier Tunes ii. i, King Charles, and who'll do him right now? |
† b. With reference to drinking, in
phr. to do (one) right. (
Cf. reason n.1 15 b.)
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. iii. 76 Why now you haue done me right. 1605 Chapman All Fools v. i, Come in when they haue done the Ladyes right. Ibid., Fill's a fresh pottle, by this light, Sir Knight, You shall do right. 1624 Massinger & Field Bondman ii. iii, These Glasses containe nothing; doe me right As e're you hope for liberty. |
5. In prepositional phrases,
with right,
by right, or
of right,
= rightfully, properly, with reason or justice.
† a. with (or mid) right.
Obs.| 863 Charter in O.E. Texts 439 Sue ðer mid riahte to ðem lande limpað. 971 Blickl. Hom. 123 Seo mennisce ᵹecynd..mæᵹ mid rihte þæm Scyppende lof & wuldor secᵹean. c 1127 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1127, Þa forlæs he þæt mid rihte forþi þæt he hit hæfde æror beieten mid unrihte. c 1200 Ormin 1395 Forr enngless haffdenn heoffness ærd Forrlorenn all wiþþ rihhte. c 1290 St. Brandan 53 in S.E. Leg. I. 221 He..seide þat we ouȝten Ihesu crist þonki suyþe wel with riȝte. c 1315 Shoreham i. 1656 He spekeþ of þyng þat his to come, Þat scholde be myd ryȝte Of treuþe. a 1400 in Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. 22 With gud ryghte þay loue þe, and onoures þe,..all thy creatures. |
b. by right; in
mod. use
by rights.
| c 1315 Shoreham i. 1671 Þet compleþ þet spoushod..Þat hyt ne may be ondon..By ryȝte. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love ii. iii. (Skeat) l. 83 On you by right ought these shames and these reproves al hoolly discende. a 1425 Cursor M. 4589 (Trin.), God haþ þe shewed fair warnyng, Þerfore owe þou by riȝt To honoure him. 1535 Coverdale Luke xxiii. 41 And truly we are therin by right, for we receaue acordinge to oure dedes. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 143 Haly is his name be richt. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. iii. 177, I should haue beene a woman by right. |
| 1818 Keats Let. Wks. 1889 III. 159, I should not, by rights, speak in this tone to you. 1853 Whewell in Life (1881) 429 By rights he ought to leave his work and go play. 1884 Rider Haggard Dawn vii, I suppose that I should not by rights have told you. |
† c. of right.
Obs.| 1413 Pilgr. Sowle iv. xxx. (Caxton, 1483) 78 To lesen his lyf as to a fals traitour of good right and reason belongeth. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 85 For the wiff of right owithe to honoure her husbonde. c 1500 God spede the Plough 17 (Skeat), And so shulde of right the parson praye, That hath the tithe shefe of the londe. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 345 Seinge the case standeth thus, ther can no rebellion of right be obiected unto us. 1681–6 J. Scott Chr. Life (1747) III. 277 They are all of Right his Subjects. |
6. a. the right: that which is right; righteousness, justice, truth;
esp. the cause of truth or justice.
| c 1000 ælfric Deut. xvi. 20 Filiᵹe rihtlice þam rihte, þæt þu lybbe lange on þam lande, þe drihten..þe sylð. c 1205 Lay. 19941 Woh him wes wunder lað, and þat rihte a leof. a 1300 Cursor M. 4370 O þe haf i nakin might, For elles it war a-gain þe right. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xxi, We..That riche rewmes ouer rynnes agaynes the ryghte. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xvi[i]. 1 Heare y⊇ right (O Lorde), considre my complaynte. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) ii. 63 The harralde cryd, ‘God schaw the rycht’. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 55 Here let them end it, and God defend the right. 1611 Bible Isa. x. 2 To take away the right from the poore of my people. 1690 W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 376 The right itself shineth of itself. 1774 Goldsm. Retal. 40 Too fond of the right to pursue the expedient. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 561 The liberty of governing himself..according to his own sense of the right and of the becoming. 1865 Lincoln 2nd Inaug. Address, With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right. |
b. In
phr. to have the right (
cf. 3 b).
| c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 5533, I haue the right and he the wrong. a 1585 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 892 Ȝea, he suld rather die than ȝield, Though Reason had the richt. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth ii, It is not my part..to decide who had the right or wrong in the present brawl. |
c. to be in the right, to have justice, reason, or fact upon one's side.
| c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxvi. 554 Ye shall take vengaunce of thyse traytours, For ye ben in the right and they in the wronge. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccclxxvi. 626 Ye be in the ryght of this warre. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 275 He was in the right, and so indeed it is. 1603 ― Meas. for M. ii. i. 167 He's in the right (Constable), what say you to it? 1680 Otway Orphan i. iv, Your Sex Was never in the right, y're always false, Or silly. 1710 [see reverie n. 3 α]. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia v. ii, She knew all the time she was in the right. 1815 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) III. 365 They are in the right, however, to enforce discipline and good order. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 125 A historical question about which they were in the right. |
II. 7. a. Justifiable claim, on legal or moral grounds, to have or obtain something, or to act in a certain way.
Chiefly in various phrases, as
writ (etc.) of right,
in right,
to have (good) right, etc.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xiii, Forðæm hi mid nanum ryhte ne maᵹon ᵹearniᵹan þæt ᵹe heora wundrien. a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 2152 (Gr.), Nelle ic þa rincas rihte benæman. c 1205 Lay. 28776 For he hefde rihte to þissere kineriche. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7496 Þus lo þe englisse folc..come to a nywe louerd þat more in riȝte was. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 57 To coroune kyng Edward, Als he þat had gode right vnto þe regalte. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 46 Off kingis, that aucht that reawte, And mayst had rycht thair king to be. 1414 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 59/2 Oure Lond, by the Kynges Writ of right enclosed. 1425 Ibid. 271/1 He þat hath verray title of right in eny thing. 1461 Ibid. V. 467/2 Any of the Kynges in dede and not in right. c 1510 Gesta Rom. (E.E.T.S.) 432 As moche ryght haue I in this tree as ye. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 89 A writ of right being brought against him, prescription of possession will not serue him. a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. viii. ii. §8 In case it do happen that without right of blood a man in such wise be possessed. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. x[i]x. 123 Nor doth it follow that he hath the best in right, who hath the best in fight. 1671 Milton Samson 310 Who made our Laws to bind us, not himself, And hath full right to exempt Whom so it pleases him. 1727 Swift Baucis & Phil. 134 Against Dissenters [he] would repine, And stood up firm for Right divine. 1771 Junius Lett. (1788) 239 [He] rejects with indignation the claim of right, which his adversary endeavours to establish. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xix, But here comes one has good right to do our errand to him. 1868 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 191 It was might, not right, which had put her in the position she occupied. 1897 Daily News 11 Dec. 5/7 Right, in its personal application, is indeed never but the underside of duty; turn it upper⁓most, and everything becomes topsy-turvy. |
b. In
phr. in right of (a person or thing).
| 1439 Rolls of Parlt. V. 26/2 Noght seised of Lond or rentes.., bot in right of þeire Wyves. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage iv. viii. (1614) 379 Solimanbee,..who made challenge to the State in right of his wife. 1704 Swift T. Tub Ded., I should now, in Right of a Dedicator, give your Lordship a List of your own Virtues. 1726 ― Gulliver i. vi, I allow he preceded me in Right of his Post. 1859 Jephson Brittany xvi. 258 Claiming the dukedom in right of his wife. 1887 Rider Haggard Allan Quatermain i, Nought have I brought save this mine axe; in right of which once I ruled the people of the axe. |
c. So
by right (also † rights) of.
| 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 89 They succeeded by right (as they call it) of consanguinitie. 1611 Bible Tobit iii. 17 She belongeth to Tobias by right of inheritance. 1660 Pepys Diary 9 Jan., He said that..he did it by rights of his office. 1789 Cowper On the Queen's Visit to London 3 By right of worth, not blood alone, Entitled here to reign! 1833 Tennyson Pal. Art 207 Hers by right of full-accomplish'd Fate. 1865 Kingsley Hereward xxi, Pack up the Englishman's plate-chest, which we inherited by right of fist. |
8. In prepositional phrases denoting justifiable title or claim to something:
a. with right. (In
OE. mid rihte.)
| Beowulf 2056 [He] þone maðþum byreð, þone þe ðu mid rihte rædan sceoldest. c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. vii. §3 Hi me habbað benumen mines naman þe ic mid rihte habban sceolde. c 1290 St. Gregory 29 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 356 Ȝif þat lond is swuch ase þe men beoth, name it hauez with riȝte. c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 1314 Thoght I myght reif thame with right, rath to my handis. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, i. ii. 96 May I with right and conscience make this claim? |
b. of right.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 159 The kynryk ȝharn I nocht to have, Bot gyff it fall off rycht to me. c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxxiii, Lete þe houndes comme too and eete þe flessh..for þat is hir rewarde of reght. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 117 He that of very ryght owed y⊇ cappe. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Ep. 391 He may (of right) chalenge to him self this singular title. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. ii. xxi. (1674) 169 He ought of right to have precedency. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 611 To come..and worship thee of right declar'd Sovran of Creatures. 1827 Cobbett Prot. Reform. §330 Those great estates, which of right belonged to the poorer classes. 1874 Green Short Hist. x. §4. 791 While England repelled the claims of the Prince of Wales to the Regency as of right, Ireland admitted them. |
c. by (good) right; also in
mod. use
by rights.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 343 Þei han heritage in heuene, and bi trewe riȝte. Ibid. xx. 95 By riȝte he it claymed. 1466 in Archaeologia (1887) L. i. 52 Askynge..their Casuallys and other thynges þ{supt} long to hem be right ameabully. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 78 [He] affirmed the kyngdome to be his by good right. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 172 This Sorrow that I haue, by right is yours. c 1616 Sir W. Mure Misc. Poems xx. 10 Pretending tytyls..By ry[ch]t hereditar to serve thy grace. 1671 Milton P.R. ii. 325 Owe not all Creatures by just right to thee Duty and Service? 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! ii, Days when the gentry of England were by due right the leaders of the people. 1868 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xxvii, Any little matters which ought to be ours by rights. |
9. a. A legal, equitable, or moral title or claim to the possession of property or authority, the enjoyment of privileges or immunities, etc.
Freq. with qualifying word, as
civil rights,
natural rights,
real rights: see the various
adjs. Declaration or Bill of Rights, ‘a Bill declaring the Rights and Liberties of England, and the Succession to the Crown’ (Burnet), passed in 1689.
| a 900 Cynewulf Elene 909 (Gr.), Nu cwom elþeodiᵹ,..hafað mec bereafod rihta ᵹehwylces. c 900 in Thorpe Dipl. Angl. Sax. (1865) 140 Þa sona wæs Eþelwald þæs wordes, þæt he no þes rihtes wiðsacan wolde. a 1300 Cursor M. 3544 Þou sal neuer..In þi forbirth do claim na right. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 78 He suld that arbytre disclar,..And lat him ryng that had the rycht. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 20 §7 All such right, title, interesse, clayme..as they..have in any of the premisses. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lii[i]. 188 Let the ryght go to the ryght. 1544 tr. Littleton's Tenures (1574) 96 b, The donee to whom the release was made then had nothinge in the land, but onely a righte. 1641 Termes de la Ley 129 b, For when the Right, which is the foundation and the principall, is released, by consequence the Action..is also released. 1681 Stair Instit. (1693) ii. i. 161 All Real Rights are either that original Community of all Men,..Or the Interest which Possession giveth, or Property. 1706 Stanhope Paraphr. III. 334 After all our boast of Settlements and Estates, nothing is or can be settled, but the Fee and Original Right in the great universal Lord. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 1 Strange!..that one and twenty miles sailing..should give a man these rights. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 172 The husband is entitled to all those rights and privileges which his wife would have had if she were alive, and which were annexed to her estate. a 1853 Robertson Lect. (1858) 747 Rights are grand things,..but the way in which we expound those rights..seems to me to be the very incarnation of selfishness. 1893 Traill Soc. Eng. Introd. p. xiii, Association, however, necessarily creates rights and duties; from rights and duties spring law and government. |
| Comb. a 1816 Bentham Offic. Apt. Maximized, Introd. View (1830) 17 A civil, or say a right-conferring code. |
b. Const.
to (
† unto, rarely
† for), with following
n. (or equivalent construction).
spec. in
right-to-life adj. phr., designating persons, etc., opposed to the abortion of the unborn fœtus or concerned with this issue; hence
right-to-lifer.
| c 1205 Lay. 26411 Oðere londes monie, Þe Julius hafde an honde, Þat he naueð nane rihte to. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7495 A fals king þat nadde no riȝt to þe kinedom. a 1300 Cursor M. 26511 To couer þe right til heuen blis. 14.. Gaytryge in Hampole's Wks. (1896) I. 109 Robes and Rychesce..þat we haf na gud titil ne na ryght to. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. viii. 9 War ȝour richt reknit to þe croun It mycht be laid with litill menss. a 1643 Ld. Falkland, etc. Infallibility (1646) 99 The Turkes..are sensible of the right the Christians..haue for the free exercise of their Religion. c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 71 When he hath given it to us, we have a civil right to it. 1709 Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. (1720) III. 28 He..is not permitted to fill those Vacancies (to which by the Law of War, he has an indisputed Right). 1789 Bentham Princ. Legisl. xviii. §25 note, On various occasions you have a right to the services of the magistrate. 1855 Brewster Newton II. xv. 40 He asserted his own right to the discovery of the differential calculus. 1882 Farrar Early Chr. II. 536 [St. Paul] maintained against them his independent right to the highest order of the Apostolate. 1916 G. B. Shaw Androcles & Lion p. lxx, We must begin by holding the right to an income as sacred and equal, just as we now begin by holding the right to life as sacred and equal. 1972 Times 22 Jan. 18/7 English law does not yet recognize a right to privacy. 1973 A. E. Wilkerson Rights of Children 312 It is doubtful that in the right-to-life controversy the rights of the unborn child will be inviolate. 1973 Austral. Humanist XXVI. 1/1 The victory of the Roman Catholic-dominated Right to Life Association over the McKenzie-Lamb private members Bill to provide abortions on request..will be seen by social historians of the future as pyrrhic. 1977 Time 25 July 2/3 If the Government provided its citizens with alternative birth control methods (free of charge), there would be fewer abortions. Even the right-to-lifers would like that. |
c. Const.
to with inf. Chiefly in phrases
to have a (or no) right to (do something), which in dialect use is also employed with reference to obligation (see
quots. under (
b)), and
right-to-work, used
attrib. with reference to a worker's right not to be required to join a trade union (
U.S.);
right to die, the alleged right of a brain-damaged or otherwise incurably ill person to the termination of life-sustaining treatment; chiefly (hyphened) as
attrib. phr.| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1275 Thane salle we rekkene..whatt ryghte þat he claymes, Thus to ryot þis rewme! 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 524 Some good Gentleman, that hath the right Unto his Church for to present a wight. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 194 A Palisadoe..to hinder the fishing of those that have no right to fish. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. i. 409 If not, the people have a right supreme To make their kings. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 145 ¶4 He has no Right to act here as if he were in an empty Room. 1784 J. Potter Virtuous Villagers II. 128 Women claim a right to inspect into the indiscretions of their husbands. 1803 Sir J. Mackintosh Wks. (1846) III. 242 He has a right to expect from me a faithful, a zealous, and a fearless defence. 1887 Rider Haggard Allan Quatermain xvi, We were officers.., and in that capacity had a right to come and go unquestioned. |
| (b) 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 24 May ¶7, I have no right to maintain idle vagrants. 1808 E. Sleath Bristol Heiress I. 209, I don't see as how women have any right to be trampled on. 1829 J. Hunter Hallamsh. Gloss. s.v., ‘I have no right to pay at that toll-bar,’ means, I am not obliged to pay there. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., ‘I have no right to pay’: i.e. I ought not to be compelled to pay. 1892 M. C. F. Morris Yorks. Folk-talk 82 ‘To have a right’ is equivalent to ‘ought’ or ‘in duty bound’, in such a phrase as this—‘He' gotten a weyfe an' bairns, and he's a right to keep 'em.’ |
| (c) 1958 Economist 15 Nov. 599/2 So far the only change that Mr Meany has committed himself to seek is one to remove the provision which allows the states to adopt ‘right-to-work’ laws. These are laws forbidding employers and unions to enter into contracts that require workers to join the union within a specified period. 1967 Harper's Mag. Mar. 8 You might have then seen the virtue of the right-to-work policy... What would have been gained.. if you sanctioned a system by which this honest and qualified ex-con were compelled to join a union against his will as the price of holding his new-found job? 1976 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 22 Mar. 6/1 In 1967 the great bulk of federal civil servants were given the right to strike. 1979 Tucson Mag. Mar. 31/3 Both [cities] are situated in a right-to-work state. |
| (d) 1976 N.Y. Times 5 Sept. iv. 5/2 The California legislature has passed..the nation's first ‘right-to-die’ bill... The bill will permit healthy persons to sign ‘living wills’ which would order their physicians..to disconnect life-sustaining equipment if that equipment serves no other purpose than to delay the moment of death. 1978 Detroit Free Press 14 Apr. 4b/2 Death ends right-to-die case before Ind. court can decide. 1986 N.Y. Times 24 Apr. a22/2 What she has asked the California courts for this time is not the right to die but the right to refuse medical treatment. |
d. Const.
of (in early use
= to), with
ns. or gerunds. See also
right of way.
| 1463–4 Cal. Rec. Dubl. (1889) I. 315 Apon the varyaunce of the ryght and tytle of the office of Recorder. 1559 Baldwin in Mirr. Mag. e ij, Earle Richard..had the right of Salysbury in holde. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xxxiii. 155 b, [He] wold not permit these..to enioy the right of Burgesie. 1611 Bible Tobit vi. 11, I wil speake for her, that she may be giuen thee for a wife. For to thee doth the right of her appertaine. 1641 Termes de la Ley 129 b, Right of entrie. 1702 H. Dodwell Apol. §15 in S. Parker Cicero's De Finibus, Authority..had undoubtedly the Right of Life and Death. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 178 The alienee..hath not only a bare possession, but also an apparent right of possession. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. lst. I. 81 A certain part of the senators..possessed votes without the right of addressing the assembly. 1889 Law Times Rep. LVIII. 163/2 The right of using this road constituted an easement of the farm. |
e. A document substantiating a claim or title.
miner's right: see
miner1 6.
| 1545 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 9 The said Thomas..hes promittit to bring with him sik rychtis as tha will use quharby tha clame the sadis landis to pertene to thame. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. lxxvii. 198 The man who will not be content with rights to bought land, except he get also the ridges and acres laid upon his back to carry home with him. 1890 [see miner1 6]. |
f. In
pl. A title or authority to perform, publish, film, or televise a particular work, event, etc.
serial rights: see
serial adj. b.
| 1890 Kipling Let. in C. E. Carrington Rudyard Kipling (1955) vii. 162 Harper & Co. bought the serial rights for American and paid me. 1913, etc. [see film rights s.v. film n. 7 c]. 1935 Discovery Sept. 277/1 The cost of the televising rights for the fight would have to be such as to compensate for the loss of cinema rights. 1939 D. L. Sayers In Teeth of Evidence 208 There were the touring rights..and film rights..and probably radio rights. 1953 [see astronomical a. 1 b]. 1959 Bookseller 17 Jan. 124/1 American publishers..claim..that the financial rewards of book-publishing come not from mere publishing but from the sale of film, paperback, serial and other rights. 1974 I. Parsons in A. Briggs Ess. Hist. of Publishing 49 Richardson had made binding agreements with a succession of Dublin booksellers under which he was to receive certain sums in return for exclusive rights. 1981 Bookseller 27 June 2226/1 We've sold the US and UK rights in books on the South Island of New Zealand. 1981 M. Spark Loitering with Intent xii. 220 The Triad [Press] sold the American rights, the paperback rights, the film rights, and most of the foreign rights. |
g. rights issue. An issue of shares offered at a special price by a company to its existing shareholders. Also
ellipt.| 1955 Times 20 Aug. 11/2 The Commercial Bank of Australia's ‘rights’ issue of 2,105,868 Ordinary shares of 10s. (Australian currency) at 15s. each has been over⁓subscribed without recourse to the underwriters. 1960 Economist 8 Oct. 187/1 Successive mergers..reduced its proportionate holding. So, too, did the rights issues of ordinary shares, for as an American investor Bendix could not subscribe for the new shares but had to sell its rights. 1968 Sun 25 Oct. 10/5 With last night's price for the ordinary 18s. 9d., the ‘rights’ are worth a little over 2d. per share, which is not very much. 1970 Money Which? Mar. 61/2 Under a rights issue, a company in which you already own shares offers you the chance to buy new shares at a special price. 1976 Birmingham Post 16 Dec. 9/5 Lazards are to discuss the intricate and difficult problems of the conflicting timing of its offer for Dunford and Elliott and Dunford's rights issue with the takeover Panel. 1981 Times 24 Apr. 15/4 Rowntree Mackintosh..is to raise {pstlg}42m after expenses from shareholders with a rights issue... Terms of the issue are one new ordinary share at 160p for every four held. |
10. a. With possessive
pron. or genitive: The title or claim to something properly possessed by one or more persons. Also
transf.| c 1129 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1129, Þæt hi scolden ealle cumen to Lundene.., & þær scolden sprecon of ealle Godes rihtes. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3714 Burȝes stronge and folc vn-friȝt, stalwurði to weren here riȝt. a 1290 Beket 229 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 113 Swyþe wel bi-gan þis Ercedekne holi churche bi-lede, And stifliche heold op hire riȝte. a 1300 Cursor M. 26320 Þou þi right fordon has þan. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 30 Þey schal saue þe kynge hys rythe, and non prejudys don a-geyn his lawe in þes ordenaunce. 1425 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 273/1 Þe pretensed ryght of my said Lord. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour h vj, Whanne the kyng was dede, somme wold haue taken her ryght fro her. 1558 Goodman How to Obey 180 It is..a great discouraging to the people..when they are not defended..in their right and title. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. i. i. 92 Lysander, yeelde Thy crazed title to my certaine right. 1638 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 194, I yeeld up my right in all the good I receive from you. 1670 Hobbes Dial. Comm. Laws (1681) 37 My Right is a Liberty left me by the Law to do any thing which the Law forbids me not. 1757 W. Wilkie Epigoniad i. 14 In vain for Polynices' right they bled. 1799 H. More Fem. Educ. (ed. 4) I. 147 To these have been opposed, with more presumption than prudence, the rights of woman. 1819 Mackintosh Parl. Suffrage Wks. 1846 III. 232 The enlightened friends of the rights of the people. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 222 Human nature at last asserted its rights. 1878 Dale Lect. Preach. ix. 291 Respect the rights of the past: assert the rights of the present. |
b. In
phr. in (the) right of,
in one's right. Also
in one's own right: now
freq. used in general senses, without reference to a particular title or claim.
| 1472 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 15/2 In the possession of the same Richard and Anne his wyfe, as in the right of the same Anne. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 48 The castell of Douer, wherof the kinges maiesty is verye owner in the right of the imperial crowne of this his realme. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 53 Wherefore king Henry havyng now maryed the sayde Alianor claymed as in her right the Erledome of Tholose. 1599 Thynne Animad. (1875) 26 Alice, the wyfe of Richarde Neuille, (erle of Sarisbery in the righte of the same Alice). 1618 Bolton Florus iii. xvii. (1636) 225 The gentrie..robbed the commonweale in their own right. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones i. x, Where they might enjoy almost the same advantages of a liberal fortune as if they were entitled to it in their own right. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. 435 The only method he had to gain possession of it, was by suing in his wife's right. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. iv, She has a little money in her own right. 1863 Times 11 Mar. 5/2 The Crown Princess of Prussia..has always been popular in her own right. 1885 Law Times Rep. LIII. 526/1 Property which should come to the wife, or the husband in her right. 1939 G. B. Shaw In Good King Charles's Golden Days i. 47 When I am King—as I shall be, in my own right, and not by the leave of any Protestant parliamentary gang. 1965 Listener 2 Sept. 331/1, I shall try to say something of the fundamental problems of science which are of the deepest significance in their own right. 1966 Ibid. 20 Oct. 560/1 It is a pity that Tvardovsky is so little known in the west. He is a very perceptive critic, and a considerable poet in his own right. 1971 Guardian 12 Nov. 9/4 The Domaine de la Rayre..is a wine of character..in its own right. 1978 I. B. Singer Shosha iii. 50 He has a nasty wife and estranged children who are rich in their own right. |
11. a. That which justly accrues or falls to any one; what one may properly claim; one's due.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. 397 Aᵹife se wer his wife hire ryht on hira ᵹesinscipe. c 970 in Thorpe Laws I. 258 Do ðam ðeofe his riht, swa hit ær Eadmundes cwide wæs. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 179 Unneðes hie winnen ȝiet here louerdes rihttes. c 1275 Lay. 7906 Ich hou segge, cnihtes, Rome his oure rihtes [c 1205 eowre irihte]. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 6755 Ȝe..waytes vs wyþ sum tresons, For to wyþ-halden vs oure right. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 328 Þei ben þevys,..and cursed, for þei wiþdrawen riȝttis of holy Chirche. c 1400 Destr. Troy 7987, I shall..our ground to þe grekes graunt as for right. 1535 Coverdale Jer. xxii. 16 Yee when he helped y⊇ oppressed and poore to their right, then prospered he well. a 1586 Answer to Cartwright 55 Wee shoulde not take our ryghte on a thyefe, to iustyfie his theeuerye. a 1625 Fletcher Nice Valour v. iii, Honour and admiration are her rights. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 11 Observing the Laws and paying the Rights of the Countrie. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 81 Let us not but give the Devil his right. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia x. iii, He has been advised by his friends to claim his rights. 1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds iii. 41 Our provisions are the right of those who work for them. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 35 We cannot help acknowledging that what is right for us is the right and inheritance of others. |
| fig. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. xviii, Grief claim'd his right, and tears their course. |
† b. A territory, estate, dominion.
Obs. rare.
| 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 10 Whan he had regned foure ȝere, one ryued vpon his right. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. viii. 26 Sir Artegall..taking with him, as his vanquisht thrall, That Damzell, led her to the Souldans right. |
† c. (Usu.
pl.) The last sacraments of the Church.
| a 1330 Roland & V. 372 Þer fel a miracle of a kniȝt, Wiche þat was to deþ y-diȝt,..Er he dyd he hadde his riȝt. c 1400 Brut 134 Oppon seynt Iohnes day..þe Kyng vnderfonge his rightes of holy cherche, as falliþ to euery Cristen man. [c 1450 Contin. Brut (E.E.T.S.) 493 When he saw he shold dye, he made his testament, and..receyved al þe rightes of holy churche.] 1470–85 Malory Arthur xiii. xiii. 630 But bere me vnto the Abbay..that I may be confessyd and haue my ryghtes. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xli. (Percy Soc.) 204 Of holy church with all humilite My rightes I toke. |
† d. pl. That part of the quarry given to the hounds as their share or due.
Obs.| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxxiii, When þe houndes beth þus enquyrered, þe lymmers shulde haue both þe shuldres for þeire reghtes. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lii. 177, I can chase the herte & the wyld bore, and blowe the pryce, and serue the houndes of theyr ryghtes. |
e. pl. A stag's full complement of antlers, consisting of the brow, bay, and tray.
| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxiv, Fourched on þe reght syde and lacke nought of reghtes bynethe. Ibid., If hym lacke any of his reghtes benethe, ye muste abate so many in þe toppe. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Marque, A deere, which hath more rights, or branches, on th' one side then on th' other. 1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd i. ii, A head, Large, and well beam'd: with all rights somm'd, and spred. 1677 Gentl. Recr. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XX. 416/2 You must say he beareth..a false Right on his near horn, for all that the Beam bears are called Rights. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports i. x. 82 The three first are termed the rights; the two points, the crockets. 1884 Jefferies Red Deer ii. 142 To be runnable or warrantable, a stag..must bear his ‘rights’ (that is, brow, bay, and tray), and two on top. |
III. † 12. a. on right,
of right, or
by right,
= aright adv.| Beowulf 1555 Rodera rædend hit on ryht ᵹesced. c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. vii. §1 Ᵹif ic þine unrotnesse on riht onᵹieten hæbbe. 971 Blickl. Hom. 45 Se biscop sceal..þrafian þa mæsse-preostas..þæt hie healdan Godes æwe on riht. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2226 Alle he woren ðanne sori ofriȝt; Iacob ðus him bi-meneð o-riȝt. a 1300 Cursor M. 1566 Sua blind þai war in þair insight, Þat reckining cuth þai nan o right. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1513 Þer was rynging, on ryȝt, of ryche metalles. c 1400 Destr. Troy 344 And all fowles in Fether fell þere vppon, For to reckon by right, þat to ryuer haunttes. c 1420 Avow. Arth. xxxiii, Quat is the rawunsun opon ryȝte, The sothe thou me sayn? |
† b. at right (rarely
rights), properly, aright.
Sc. Obs.| 1375 Barbour Bruce xiv. 171 That nycht the Scottis cumpany War wachit richt weill, all at richt. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 278 Syne restit thar at rycht In a forest. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. vi. 22 All..godlie wychtis Schew we suld haue a prosper rais at rychtis. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 414 Placebo, rewll our Roy at richt. |
† c. at their right, to the full, completely.
Obs. rare.
| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) vi, So þat hir teth be waxe vp alle at hire ryght. Ibid., Þen oþer teth commeth to hem alle newe... And whan þei be wexe vp agaynn at hir right, þen þei..gothe at hir aventure. |
† 13. at (or to) all rights (also
Sc. right), at all points, in every respect.
Obs.| 13.. Coer de L. 3123 He was armyd to alle ryghtes. c 1325 Orfeo 134 Ther come to me two fair knyghtes, Wele arayde at alle ryghthis. 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 312 The castele..wes varnyst vondir wele With men and wittale at all richt. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2102 An hundred knyghtes Wel armed for the werre at alle rightes. 1470–85 Malory Arthur viii. vi. 281 Syr Trystram commaunded his seruaunt..to..dresse his harneis at al manere of ryghtes. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 686 Greit Squechonis on hicht..Reulit at all richt Endlang the hall. |
14. to rights:
a. (Also rarely
to right,
† to the rights,
at rights.) In a proper manner (
obs.); to or into a proper condition or order. In later use chiefly with
bring,
put, or
set.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4127 He mayntende þe lond to ryght, He was curteys & doughty knyght. 1340–70 Alisaunder 846 With þe gaie golde ring graue too-rightes. Ibid. 1222 That bolde borou Byzance þat buyld was to-rihtus. c 1350 Will. Palerne 53 A-greþed ful riche, wiþ perrey & pellure pertelyche to þe riȝttes. Ibid. 1632 Þemperour & eueri man were esed to riȝttes. 1472–3 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 59/1 That all Wolles..be sufficiauntly, trewly and indifferently pakked to rights, within the Royalme of Englond. 1535 Coverdale Luke vi. 10 Then was his hande restored him to right, euen as whole as the other. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 43 Bring the ship to rights, that is, againe vnder saile as she was. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 481 To set all things at rights as at first they were being no work..for the arme of man. 1662 Pepys Diary 30 Jan., Employed all the afternoon in my chamber, setting things and papers to rights. 1706 Logan in Pennsylv. Hist. Soc. Mem. X. 146 When once puzzled he can with difficulty bring himself to rights. 1748 Richardson Clarissa Wks. 1883 V. 487 Sense of shame..may make rifled rank get up, and shake itself to rights. 1767 Franklin Let. Wks. 1887 IV. 23, I received the watch chain, which you say you send to be put to rights. 1821 Jefferson Autob. Writ. 1892 I. 109 How the good should be secured, and the ill brought to rights, was the difficulty. 1842 G. S. Faber Prov. Lett. I. 55 Call in Mr. Maitland,..and he will speedily set all to right. 1859 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 8 A good sleep would have put me to rights. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. III. 216 The lists of voters..were set to rights. |
b. At once, straightway (now
U.S.); also,
† completely, altogether. Formerly
freq. in
phr. † to sink to rights.
| (a) 1663 Pepys Diary 8 June, Mr. Coventry and us two did discourse with the Duke a little.., and so to rights home again. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 390 The King..ordered him to be carried to rights, to the Tower. 1702 S. Parker tr. Cicero's De Finibus v. 303 When Indigent People are ready..to suffer any Thing rather than die to Rights. 1835 ‘Major J. Downing’ Lett. 129 So to rights the express got back, and brought a letter. |
| (b) 1673 Dryden Amboyna iii. iii, The vessel rifled, and the rich hold rummaged, they sink it down to rights. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iii. i. (1723) 150 The whole Tract..sinks down to rights into the Abyss underneath. 1726 Swift Gulliver ii. viii, The Hulk.., by Reason of many Breaches.., sunk to Rights. 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope I. 34 The poor fellow, in a most piteous condition, and his heart sinking to rights under the melancholy notion he had of it. |
† 15. Hunting. The scent, the track.
Obs.| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xiii, A bolde hounde shulde neuer pleyne nor yowle, but if he were oute of þe reghtes. And also he shulde agayne seche þe rightes. |
16. The true account or interpretation
of a matter. Now
pl.| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xviii. ii, There hath been a terrible to do. I could not possibly learn the very right of it. 1751 Eliza Heywood Betsy Thoughtless III. 147, I verily believe thou hast hit upon the right. 1846 Marryat Valerie viii, I have never heard the rights of that story. 1853 G. J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand I. vi. 166 Those ladies who dearly love the last bit of news..and who are never satisfied without learning what they call the rights of it. |
IV. 17. a. = right hand 2.
| a 1240 Sawles Warde in O.E. Hom. I. 257 Þe middel sti bituhhe riht ant luft. a 1300 Cursor M. 2463 Queder þou ches, on right or left, I sal ta me þat þou haues left. 1382 Wyclif Prov. iv. 27 Ne bowe thou doun to the riȝt, ne to the lift; turne awei thi foot fro euel. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 558 Vangard, to Right and Left the Front unfould. 1707 Freind Peterborow's Cond. Sp. 211 Take to the Mountains on the right with all your Men. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 105 Far to the right, where Apennine ascends. 1823 F. Clissold Ascent Mont Blanc 11 A precipitous declivity, which shelved down, upon our right, in one plane of smooth rock. 1894 Mrs. H. Ward Marcella II. 306 Benny appeared..elbowing the Jewesses to right and left. |
b. The right wing of an army, etc.; the right-hand extremity of a line of men.
| 1707 Lond. Gaz. No. 4334/4 Our right was then at Louvignies, and our Left at Naast. 1743 in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 401 Their right reaching to the village called Keldersbach. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxxiv, Four of them occupied the right of the first line. Ibid., The Chief occupied the centre of the middle rank, instead of being on the extreme right. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxxiii, There are the French, close on our right. 1896 Baden Powell Matabele Campaign viii, The Cape Boys had worked their way round to the enemy's right. |
c. The right-hand way or road.
| 1764 J. Kirby's Suffolk Trav. (ed. 2) 278 At 2 m. take the Right which goes to Sutton Church,..at 3 m. 6 f. the Right goes to Sutton. |
d. Politics.
Orig. in Continental legislative chambers, the party or parties of conservative principles. (See
centre n. 15.) Now applied generally to any political group holding conservative principles.
| 1825 Ann. Reg. 1824 152/1 M. de la Bourdonnaye (leader of the extreme right). 1830 Ann. Reg. 1829 157/2 All the new ministers belonged to the extreme right. 1848 Mrs. Gaskell Let. 2 Nov. (1966) 60, I never can ascertain what I am in politics; and veer about from extreme Right,—no, I don't think I ever go as far as the extreme Left. 1887 Harper's Mag. Jan. 180/1 The political differences between the two great parties, the parliamentary Right and Left. 1940 W. Temple Thoughts in War-Time iii. 24 The Right tends to have a fuller sense of historical continuity than the Left. 1954 Koestler Invisible Writing xxxvi. 385 The trial of the so-called ‘Anti-Soviet Block of Rights and Trotskyists’ took place in Moscow. 1955 Times 23 May 11/7 There is much division among the delegates of free countries on how to deal with the Left and Right dictatorship delegations. 1960 O. Manning Great Fortune xviii. 220 We did nothing to establish a liberal policy that could save the country from either extremity—Left or Right. 1969 A. G. Frank Latin Amer. xix. 316 The current wave of government repression against the Left need not mean a permanent move to the Right. 1974 J. White tr. Poulantzas's Fascism & Dictatorship iv. 224 In the struggle against the Left Opposition..the Comintern took a turn to the ‘right’. |
e. In various sports, the right side or wing of the field of play; a player occupying this position (
cf. right wing 2).
| 1867 Ball Players' Chron. 8 Aug. 6/3 The nine will be as follow:..Peters, right. 1892 College Index (Auburn, Alabama) Nov. 27 Mr. G. O. Shackleford, the Athens left guard, who gave our right so much trouble at the match game in Atlanta last February has entered college here. 1934 in B. James England v Scotland (1969) 152 Attack after attack on the English goal. Superb work by that sprite of a player, Cook, on the extreme right. 1949 Telephone-Reg. (McMinnville, Oregon) 4 Aug. 2/1 Jimmy ‘Whiskers’ Beard then drove both in with a single to right. |
18. a. A boot or shoe for the right foot; a glove for the right hand.
| 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 515 It belonged to the left foot of the wearer; so..this is proof that ‘rights and lefts’ are only ‘An old, old, very old’ fashion revived. 1864 F. Locker My Mistress's Boots vii, Cinderella's lefts and rights To Geraldine's were frights. 1884 Harper's Mag. Dec. 117/1, I didn't want two rights [sc. gloves]. |
b. (See
quots.)
| 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 911 Nail scissors are made in pairs, and formed in opposite ways, or as ‘rights and lefts’, so that they may suit the respective hands. 1889 C. T. Davis Bricks & Tiles (ed. 2) 73 Bricks..are termed ‘rights’ and ‘lefts’ when they are so moulded or ornamented that they cannot be used for any corner. |
c. A blow given with the right hand.
| 1898 Daily News 24 Nov. 7/3 Sharkey put over a straight right on Corbett's nose, seeming to bring blood. 1898 [see land v. 2 e]. 1930 Daily Express 6 Oct. 11/5 The blow with which he dropped Compere for the full count was a right to the jaw. 1937 C. Himes Black on Black (1973) 130 He'd go out fast with the garrote in his left hand, throw a hard right at the bastard's face. 1972 J. Mosedale Football iv. 49 Bob Snyder..threw a roundhouse right that knocked Matheson out the door. |
d. A shot fired at game with the right barrel of a double-barrelled shotgun; a bird or beast hit by such a shot.
Cf. right and left, right-and-left
n. 2.
| 1893, etc. [see left n. 4]. |
e. Surfing. The (use of the) right foot.
| 1968 Surfer Mag. Jan. 73/1 Eamonn Matthews..caught some nice rights. 1970 Surf '70 (N.Z.) 44/2 There were good lefts and occasional rights with Ted Spencer carving turns people thought were impossible. |
f. A right-hand turn.
U.S.| 1961 Webster, s.v., Take the right at the fork. 1969 D. E. Westlake Up your Banners v. 35 The light turned green and she made a right. 1977 R. E. Harrington Quintain vi. 49 A blue Rover had made a right off a side street to pull in ahead of the cab. 1981 G. V. Higgins Rat on Fire xiii. 96 Leo Proctor took a right in Dorchester Avenue and drove the van south. |
† 19. The direct road or way.
Obs. rare.
| 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 4189, I man pas to the King of Farie, Or ellis the rycht to hell. 1595 Shakes. John i. i. 170 Something about a little from the right, In at the window or else ore the hatch. |
20. A facet (of a diamond).
Obs. rare.
| 1675 Lond Gaz. No. 1050/4 A short hart Diamond,..4 Rights and the Coller pollished, the Stone being about half made. |
V. 21. Comb. right-left attrib. phr., of or between right and left.
| 1968 M. S. Livingston Particle Physics vii. 132 The parity conservation expresses this symmetry between events in the real world and their mirror images, this right-left symmetry of form. 1970 S. Rokkan Citizens, Elections, Parties x. 335 He sees in this circumstance a possible explanation for the absence of a clear-cut tradition of right-left polarization in the United States. 1978 Science 24 Feb. 852 (heading) Right-left asymmetries in the brain. |
▪ II. right, n.2 erron. spelling for
rite n.| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. (1600) iv. i. 138 No doubt they rose vp early, to obserue The right of May. 1634 Milton Comus 125 Com let us our rights begin, 'Tis onely day-light that makes Sin. 1655 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1687) 405/1 Being initiated into the Orphick Solemnities, the Priest telling him, that they who were initiated into those Rights [etc.]. 1700 Prior Carm. Sec. 36 Numa the Rights of strict Religion knew; On ev'ry Altar laid the Incense due. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 463 Worship the immortal gods according to the rights of thy country. 1865 Lever Luttrell i, He'll give her the rights. Ibid., I sent for you to administer to her the rights of her Church. [Cf. right n.1 11 c.] |
▪ III. right, a. (
raɪt)
Forms: 1
reht (
rect),
reoht,
ræht; 1–4
riht, 3
rihht,
rihct, 2–3,
Sc. 6–
richt; 3–5
riȝt(e, 4
riȝtt,
riȝht,
riȝth (4–5
rith), 3–
right; 1, 4
ryht (4
-te), 5–6
Sc. rycht; 4
ryȝht, 4–5
ryȝt (4
-tte, 5
-te); 4
rygth, 5
rygt,
ryth, 4–6
ryght (5–6
-te); also
dial. 8–9
reet, 9
reeght,
reight,
raight.
[Common Teutonic: OE. reht, riht, ryht, = OFris. riucht (mod.Fris. rjucht), MDu. recht, richt (Du. recht, † regt), OS. reht (MLG. and LG. recht), OHG. reht (MHG. and G. recht), ON. réttr (Norw. rett, Da. ret, Sw. rätt), Goth. raihts; related to L. rectus, the base being the root reg- to make or lead straight. In
OE. riht frequently forms the first part of a compound instead of having adjectival flexion.]
I. 1. † a. Straight; not bent, curved, or crooked in any way. Also
right with, in a line with.
Obs.| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. iii. 3 Ræhta doeð vel wyrcas stiᵹa his [Hatton Doð hys syþas rihte]. 971 Blickl. Hom. 207 Nalas..þæt þa waᵹas wæron rihte, ac ᵹit swiðor on scræfes onlicnesse þæt wæs æteowed. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 316 Ðeos wyrt..hafað leaf swylce winᵹeard & rihte stelan. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 656, v. mile to þe rihte æ þe gað to ælm & to Wisebece. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 7 Þenne make we ham [his paths] rihte ȝef we haldet his beode. c 1205 Lay. 7830 Þa Bruttes..nomen longen ræftres, stronge & rihte. c 1220 Bestiary 86 Siðen wið his riȝte bile [he] takeð mete ðat he wile. c 1330 Assump. Virg. 666 As soone as he hadde seide þis bede,..Alle his lymes bi come ful ryȝt. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 1701 The stalke was as risshe right. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 233 He hath..the body al holle and wel y-mesurid, ryght estature. c 1430 Hymns Virgin (1867) 46 Crokid & creplis he makiþ riȝt. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lxxii. 107 The stem of this herbe..is right and straight. 1589 R. Tomson in Hakluyt Voy. 587 The said Citie of Mexico hath the streetes made very broad, and right. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 457 It hath a mane standing up in the upper part right or direct, but hollow or bending before. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. viii. 73 Hold the Instrument..with the Foot AB right with the Horizon level. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v., Right Muscles of the Head. |
| Phr. a 1327 in Rel. Antiq. II. 19 Stod y in my stirop streyt,..As ryt as ramis orn. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 172 Conveyede by lyne ryght as a rammes horne. c 1522 Skelton Why nat to Court 87 Do ryght and do no wronge, As ryght as a rammes horne. 1678 Ray Prov. 288. |
† b. Of a way or course: Direct, going straight towards its destination.
right range (see
quot. 1669).
Obs. With
way, the
adj. passes into the sense ‘correct, proper’ (
cf. 9), and in
ME. it is sometimes uncertain which meaning is intended.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter cvi. 7 Dryhten..ut-alaedde hie in weᵹ rehtne, ðæt hie eoden in cestre eordunge. a 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. i. xii. (1890) 46 Þæt hi ᵹemænelice fæsten ᵹeworhten..stænene weal rihtre stiᵹe fram eastsæ oð wæstsæ. c 1000 Guthlac iii. (1848) 20 He ðan rihtestan weᵹe ðyder to ᵹeferde. c 1200 Ormin 11093 Þatt newe sterrne þatt..shollde ledenn hemm Till himm þe rihhte weȝȝe. 13.. Coer de L. 3894 Ful ryght way wenten [they] to Archane. c 1350 Will. Palerne 5322 He rides..to-wardes rome þo riȝtes gates. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 504 Vpon the morwe..To Britaigne tooke they the righte way. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xiv. 62 Now will I tell ȝow þe rightest way and þe schortest to Ierusalem. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 3 The day faillit, throu the rycht cours worthit schort. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 1929 Wische me the richt way till Sanct-Androes. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 162 A newe & ryghter way founde of late. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xix. cxvi, Many follow'd that enquest, But these alone found out the rightest way. 1620–55 I. Jones Stone-Heng (1725) 60 Ermin-street..led the right Way into the Northern Countries. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 69 To shoot in a Right-Range..is, as far as the Bullet doth go in a Right-line at any Degree of Elevation. 1704 [see range n.1 11 b]. |
† c. In
fig. contexts.
Obs. (
Cf. 9.)
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxiii. §2 Þu ne meahtes ᵹyt ful rihtne weᵹ aredian to ðæm soðum ᵹesaelðum. 971 Blickl. Hom. 109 Þa men þe bearn habban..him tæcean lifes weᵹ & rihtne gang to heofonum. c 1200 Ormin 5507 Þatt rihhte weȝȝe..Þatt ledeþþ þa till heoffness ærd. c 1300 Harrow. Hell 211 Þou sendest me þe ryhte wey into helle. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 58 Also it is a gret werk of mercy to teche men þe riȝtte weie to heuene. c 1440 Jacob's Well 258 Kepyth þe ryȝte weye in myddys of þe x. comaundementys. 1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Aug. (E.E.T.S.) 2 He was cause..with his bokis þat many a soule is ledde þe rith weye to heuene. 1538 Starkey England i. ii. 39 We must now seke out..the veray true commyn wele, seyng that we haue therby thus found..the ryghtyst way therto. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. x. 10 All..take delight With many rather for to goe astray,..Then with a few to walke the rightest way. |
† d. Of lineage, descent, etc.: Direct, legitimate.
| 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love ii. ii. (Skeat) l. 115 Who is discended of right bloode of lyne fro king Artour? 1448–9 J. Metham Wks. (E.E.T.S.) 79 This knyght despousyd had a lady, Hauyng decens be ryght lynage Off that wurthy and excellent stok lyneally, That Poolys men clepe. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xiii. 117 Ane teinfull tratour of rycht successioun. |
† e. transf. Keeping a straight course.
Obs.| 1603 Daniel Def. Rhime in G. G. Smith Eliz. Crit. Ess. (1904) II. 372 Discretion is the best measure, the rightest foote in what habit soeuer it runne. 1626 [see foot n. 29 c]. 1640 Featly Abbot in Fuller Abel Rediv. (1867) II. 282 All their children, treading in their holy steps, walked with a right foot to the Gospel. |
† f. (After L.
rectus.) Nominative.
Obs.—1| 1654 Z. Coke Logick 20 Always absolutely in the right (that is the nominative) Case. |
2. right line, a straight line. (
Cf. line-right.)
| 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Defin., Of lynes there bee two principall kyndes,..a right or straight lyne, and..a croked lyne. 1570 Billingsley Euclid i. def. 5. 2 One right lyne cannot be righter then an other. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. iv. (1736) 43 Circles and Right Lines limit and close all Bodies. 1715 tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 146 A Body which is not urged by a Force tending to a Centre, will not describe a Circle, but a Right line. 1812 Davy Chem. Philos. 69 Supposing that there is a certain unknown matter always moving through the universe in right lines. 1898 T. F. Tout Empire & Papacy xvii. (1901) 425 The right lines and measured regularity of an American city. |
| Comb. 1715 tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) II. 466 An uniform progressive Motion in a Right-line Tangent to its Orbit. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1943/2 Right-line Pen, a drawing-pen. |
| transf. 1697 Dryden Ded. æneid Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 165 Pulci, Boiardo, and Ariosto, would cry out, ‘make room for the Italian poets, the descendants of Virgil in a right line’. |
3. Formed by or with reference to a right line or plane perpendicular to another right line or plane.
a. right circle,
right horizon,
right sphere: (see
quots. and the
ns.);
right triangle, a right-angled triangle.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §27 This is the conclusioun to knowe the Assenciouns of signes in the riht cercle. c 1391, 1549 [see horizon n. 3]. 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 209 In the Righte Sphere. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 15 The sphere is deuided into a right sphere and into an oblique or crokyd sphere. Ibid. 20 This Picture sheweth the fourme of a right Horizont. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iii. xvii. (1636) 313 When is the Horizon said to be right, and thereby to make a right Spheare? 1700 Moxon Math. Dict. 158 A Right or Direct Sphere hath both the Poles of the World in the Horizon, and the Equinoctial transiting the Zenith. 1715 tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 221 For either the Horizon of the Place is right to the Equator,..or it is oblique. 1795 Hutton Math. & Phil. Dict. II. 375/1 Right Sphere, is that where the equator cuts the horizon at Right angles; or that which has the poles in the horizon, and the equinoctial in the zenith. 1846 Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Right Circle, a circle drawn at right angles with the plane of projection. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. 147 Parallel, Right, and Oblique Spheres. 1903 J. McMahon Elem. Geom. i. 62 In a right triangle the side opposite the right angle is called the hypotenuse. 1970 J. R. Byrne Mod. Elem. Geom. v. 153 Suppose that we had a ‘Book of Standard Right Triangles’ for angles from measure 1 to 89°. |
b. In miscellaneous uses:
† right corner, a right angle.
right sailing (see
quots. 1704 and 1867).
right sine: (see
sine n.).
| 1548 Elyot, Orthogonius, that hath ryght corners. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Defin., The square angle, whiche is commonly named a right corner, is made by twoo lynes meetyng together in fourme of a squire. 1579 J. Stubbes Gaping Gulf F iv b, The very rightest perpendicular downfal that can be imagined from the point. 1655 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 250/2 Simple, local Motion is twofold: circular..and right: the right is either upwards from the center, or downwards to the center, and both these either simply, or κατὰ τὶ. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 541 The setting Sun..with right aspect..Leveld his eevning Rayes. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I., Right Sailing, is when a Voyage is perform'd on some one of the four Cardinal Points. 1748 H. Ellis Hudson's Bay 93 The land trenched away from East by North to North by West, making right Points of the Compass. 1840 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 232/1 It is a common idea that the oblique is weaker than the right arch. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Right sailing, running a course on one of the four cardinal points, so as to alter only a ship's latitude, or longitude. |
c. right ascension: (see
ascension 3). Also
† right descension (see
descension 5).
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. ii. (1636) 114 Knowing the Sunnes place, you shall learne the right ascention thereof thus. 1651 C. Brookes Sphær. Triang. 24 It is required to find out the Right Adscension and Declination of both those starres severally. 1690 Leybourn Curs. Math. 367 Such is the Sun's Right Ascension when he is in 29 deg. of Taurus. 1755 B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sci. 185 The same Thing which on the terrestrial Globe and Maps is called Longitude, is, on the celestial Globe and Sphere, called Right Ascension. 1812–16 Playfair Nat. Phil. (1819) II. 79 The parallax in right ascension is nothing when a body is on the meridian. 1882 Knowledge No. 15. 317 Transit observers have to determine the declination of a star as well as what is called the right ascension. |
d. Of solid figures: Having the ends or base at right angles with the axis.
| 1674 S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 524 If a Right Cylinder have the Diameter 14, and the Height..as much; then shall the Area of each Base be 154. 1795 Hutton Math. & Phil. Dict. II. 375/1 Right Cone, or Cylinder, or prism, or pyramid. 1805–17 R. Jameson Char. Min. (ed. 3) 140 All the faces of the right quadrangular prism are equal and similar. 1854 Pereira's Polarized Light (ed. 2) 218 In this system are included the right rhombic prism, the right rhombic octohedron [etc.]. 1887 [see cylinder n. 1 b]. |
† 4. a. Of the eyes, etc.: Directed straight forwards.
Obs.| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxxi, Þere oþer beloweth with a reght musell byfore hem. 1616 J. Lane Contn. Sqr.'s T. iv. 73 Wrest the streight crooked, the right eyes besquint. |
† b. Of a blow: Direct, forward.
Obs.| c 1470 Henry Wallace ii. 62 The tothir fled,..Bot a rycht straik Wallace him gat that tyd. 1591 Florio 2nd Fruites 119 Hee will hit any man..with a right or reverse blowe. 1594 I. G. Grassi's Art Def. E e iv, When, after a right blowe, he would discharge a reverse. |
II. 5. Of persons or disposition: Disposed to do what is just or good; upright, righteous. Now
rare.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xxiv. 8 Swoete & reht [is] dryten. Ibid. xxxi. 11 Wuldriað alle rehte on heortan. a 900 Cynewulf Crist 18 Eala þu Reccend ond þu riht Cyning. c 1320 Cast. Love 398 Þi douȝter..I am, I wot bi þon, For þou art kyng, riht domes-mon. a 1340 Hampole Psalter vii. 10 When he sees oure hert in heuen..þan he makis vs mare right and helpis vs. 1382 Wyclif Ps. lxxviii. 37 The herte forsothe of hem was not riȝt with hym. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 28 Thow, God, the quhilk is onlie richt, Thow saif me fra the Deuillis net. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 360 Execute this office simply, justly, and according to the rule of a right conscience. 1652 Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 307, I believe he hath a very right heart for the K[ing]. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 352 But God left free the Will, for what obeyes Reason, is free, and Reason he made right. 1770 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 237 He is a right man, and, I make no doubt, much yours. 1871 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. (1878) 23 Hence, in right character there is no struggle at all. |
6. a. Of actions, conduct, etc.: In accordance with what is just or good; equitable; morally fitting. In later use chiefly predicative.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xxxii. 4 Forðon reht is word dryhtnes & all werc his in ᵹeleafan. c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. iii. §4 Is þis nu se cwide þe þu me ᵹeo sædest þæt se wisa Plato cwæde,..þæt nan anweald nære riht butan rihtum þeawum? c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xii. 57 Hwi ne deme ᵹe of eowsylfum þæt riht is. c 1200 Ormin 18773–4 Unnderr Cristess rihhte dom, & inn hiss rihhte wræche. a 1250 Owl & Night. 179 And fo we on myd rihte dome. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xviii. 9 Right wisenesses ofe lauerd [are] right, hertes fainand. 13.. Cursor M. 3394 (Gött.), Abraham..Tok a wijf, for sua was riht. a 1400 Pistill of Susan 265 Alle my werkes þou wost, þe wrong and þe riht. 1445 in Anglia XXVIII. 267 Al that right is thou grauntyst soon. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 145 That he maye learne to liue in a right trade of vertue and honestee. 1579 Poore Knt.'s Palace G iij b, No freend⁓ship hath withdrawe his minde to leve the rightest part. 1600 Holland Livy xxii. xxxix. 457 b, That right and true dealing may well be sicke, but it shall not die. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 16 With some regard to what is just and right [they] Shall lead thir lives. 1745 Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 276 Religion is the principal security of men's acting a right part in society. 1753–4 Richardson Grandison (1781) VII. 126, I sincerely think this is the rightest measure you can now pursue. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xviii, The patrons by whose direction they expected to obtain it [revenge] in right and legal fashion. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xix. 187 Don't you..ever do anything that you did not think quite right? |
| Comb. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas, Eden 563 False guiding paths,..And right-wrong errors of an end-less Maze. |
b. In
phr. it is right to or that.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §12 Forðæm hit is riht þæt ða goodan hæbben good edlean hiora godes [etc.]. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xx. 22 Is reht us to seallanne þæt ᵹeafel ðæm caseri? 971 Blickl. Hom. 35 Riht þæt is þæt ealle ᵹeleaffulle men [etc.]. a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. lviii. (1883) 304 Þonne is hit rihtast þæt he þanonforð buton ælcum wife wuniᵹe. c 1200 Ormin 2532 Þatt iss rihht onn eorþe, Þatt mannkinn be till Drihhtin Godd Herrsumm onn alle wise. a 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 6837 It es right þat þai duelle þare, In þat hidus myrknes ever-mare. c 1375 Cursor M. 3126 (Fairf.), Doun our lorde to erþ he liȝt to fonde abraham him þoȝt riȝt. 1535 Coverdale Acts iv. 19 Whether it be right before God, that we shulde be more obedient vnto you, then vnto God. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xx. 31 Þairfoir it is bot rycht That thow indure þe pane. 1663 Butler Hud. i. iii. 953 They thought it was but just and right, That [etc.]. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 570 It is..right thou shouldst be obeyd. 1819 Shelley Peter Bell 3rd ii. iii, Like some one whom it were not right To mention. a 1832 Bentham Wks. (1843) II. 522 It is right that men should be as near upon a par with one another..as they can be made. |
7. a. Agreeing with some standard or principle; correct, proper. Also, agreeing with facts; true.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §1 Forþan hit is swiðe ryht spell þæt Plato se uðwita sæde. a 1000 Colloq. ælfric in Wr.-Wülcker 88 Hwæt rece we hwæt we sprecan buton hit riht spræc sy? a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 627, He sende Scottum ᵹewrit þæt hi scoldon ᵹecerran to rihtum Eastrum. c 1200 Ormin 7264 Þatt wass baþe rihht & wel Þatt Crist wass borenn þære. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 4148 Him lestede hise siȝte briȝt, And euerilc toð bi tale riȝt. 1340 Ayenb. 252 Ase ich habbe aboue yssewed, sobrete ne is oþer þing bote to loky riȝte mesure ine alle þinges. c 1400 in Turner Dom. Archit. (1859) III. 86 Who so dispyse this lesson ryȝt, At borde to sitt he hase no myȝt. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxiii. 37 Ane raknyng rycht cumis of ane ragment small. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 136 The knowledge of the tonges..was manifestly contemned: and so, ye way of right studie purposely peruerted. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 522 A right description of our sport, my Lord. c 1630 Sanderson Serm. II. 301 To bring us, by a righter understanding of our selves, to a better knowledge of God. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 274 He contends, that the Pagans did entertain righter Opinions concerning the Supreme God, than the Jews themselves. 1709 J. Palmer Latter Day Glory 117 Time..will discover which is the rightest way of counting. 1762 Foote Orators i. i, The perfectioning of our countrymen in..the right use of their native language. 1779 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 275 What you say about his engaging in parties may be right, for any thing I know to the contrary. 1861 F. Nightingale Nursing (ed. 2) 32 This simple question..(not, how can I always do this right thing myself? but), how can I provide for this right thing to be always done? 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 70 In the next book, Plato pursues further his notion of educating by a right use of pleasure. |
b. Of belief: Orthodox, true; that ought to be accepted or followed.
| ? c 825 Vesp. Hymns (Sweet) xi. 9 Se rehta ᵹeleafa mid haetu walle. 971 Blickl. Hom. 77 Þæt hie sceolan þurh⁓wunian on rihtum ᵹeleafan. c 1200 Ormin 13005 Forr þatt teȝȝ wolldenn þære att himm Þe rihhte trowwþe lernenn. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 2438 Wið luue & rihte bileaue. 13.. Coer de L. 284 Them to noye.. That be not in the ryght byleve. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 297 Arn none raþere yrauisshid fro þe riȝte beleue Þanne arn þise grete clerkis. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 520 Þe riȝtte feiþ of Cristene men. 1548 Elyot Orthodoxus, a man of a right opinion, faith, or belefe. 1648 Hexham ii, Recht-geloovigh, of the True and Right faith, or Orthodoxall. |
c. With agent-nouns: Correct, exact.
| a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 154 He requireth a learned Reader, and a right considerer of him. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 242 This manner of speech is by the figure Dialogismus, or the right reasoner. 1611 Florio, Rettimetra, a right measurer. 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. xii. 157 Whose inhabitants were..right shooters (at an haires breadth and faile not) but unrighteous livers. |
d. Leading in the proper direction or towards the place one wishes to reach. Also
transf.| 1814 D. H. O'Brien Captiv. & Escape 95 Happening to hit the right road, I resolved to follow it for some time. 1835 Macaulay Mackintosh Ess. (1897) 324 Were their faces set in the right or in the wrong direction? 1861 Buckle Civiliz. II. i. 85 The change was slight, but it was in the right direction. |
e. that's right, used to express affirmation or agreement;
is that right? phr. inviting confirmation of a statement or proposal;
to get (something) right, to be accurate or correct (in a certain matter), to have (something) clear in one's mind.
| 1905 N.Y. Even. Post 7 Apr. 2 The President's address was frequently interrupted with applause and cries of ‘That's right’. 1922 ‘K. Mansfield’ Voyage in Garden Party 186 ‘And you've got your cabin tickets safe?’ ‘Yes, dear.’.. Grandma felt for them inside her glove and showed him the tips. ‘That's right.’ 1925 A. Christie Secret of Chimneys x. 96 ‘You recognized the body as that of one of your guests?’ ‘That's right, inspector.’ 1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart i. 12, I say to them ‘You are supreme: exercise your power.’ They say, ‘That's right: tell us what to do’; and I tell them. 1932 N. & Q. June 415/2 We are not even simple-minded enough to say ‘yes’; we prefer to say ‘That's right’. 1933 Punch 16 Aug. 195 (caption) Tourist (after two miles of it). ‘Look here, Alfonso, let's get this right. Have you adopted us or have we adopted you?’ 1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock vii. vii. 335 ‘So he was at your school.’ ‘That's right.’ 1951 C. P. Snow Masters iii. xxxvii. 301, I expect Eliot has got everything he said right. 1958 Spectator 4 July 26/2 He does contrast the Spencers and the Churchills (Sir Winston is a Churchill not a Spencer, or have I got it right?). 1976 L. Deighton Twinkle, twinkle, Little Spy x. 99 ‘They would take it real bad.’ ‘Is that right,’ said Mann. |
8. a. Fitting, proper, appropriate; exactly answering to what is required or suitable.
| c 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. v. xxi. [xix.] (1890) I. 468 Þæt hi Eastran heoldan & wurðedon butan heora rihtre tide. c 960 Canons Edgar in Thorpe Laws II. 254 We lærað þæt man on rihtne timan tida ringe. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 13 Ᵹif ᵹe mine bibode healded, þenne sende ic eou rihte widerunge. c 1200 Ormin 216 Mine wordess, Þatt filledd shulenn ben þurrh Godd Att heore rihhte time. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 42 For ther may noman finde The rihte salve of such a Sor. 1584 Three Ladies Lond. i. in Hazl. Dodsley VI. 254 Huff! once aloft, and I may hit in the right vein. a 1720 Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. i. 1 Thou, O Lord, alone knowest the right times and seasons to open the eyes of the people. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas i. xii, God knows if his heart lay in the right place. 1854 Stanley Mem. Canterb. iii. (1857) 145 That happy art of saying the right thing to the right person. 1883 H. W. V. Stuart Egypt 7 Her Commander's knack of being in the right place at the right time, and doing the right thing. |
| Comb. 1895 K. Grahame Golden Age 44 Nature, in providing water-rats, had furnished right-sized stones. |
b. Mr. Right,
Miss Right, the right person, the destined husband or wife.
colloq.| 1860 Sala Baddington Peerage xviii, I suppose I'm not the Mr. Right of her affections. 1891 Kipling Light that Failed 164 But..couldn't you take and live with me till Miss Right comes along? |
c. right sort,
right stuff: an alcoholic drink.
slang.| 1820 J. H. Reynolds Fancy 110 Right sort, gin. 1927 Wodehouse Meet Mr Mulliner vi. 198 A sharp spasm had reminded him how much of the right stuff he had in him at that moment. |
d. Of persons and things: regarded with approval; socially acceptable; potentially influential.
| 1842, 1883 [see sort n.2 11 b]. 1900 H. James Little Tour in France (ed. 2) vii. 76 The middle of the eighteenth century..was surely, in France at least, the age of good society, the period when the ‘right people’ made every haste to be born in time. 1901 J. Vaizey About Peggy Saville x. 76 Travelling is good fun if you..provide yourself with introductions to the right people. 1928 Kipling Bk. of Words xi. 86 It may be a snobbish way of putting it, but a man should know ‘the right people’ in the great world of books. 1931 S. Jameson Richer Dust xv. 445 She went regularly to their houses, and with them to the right restaurants. 1936 A. Christie Murder in Mesopotamia xx. 178 She's young and she's crude, but she's the right sort. 1946 G. Millar Horned Pigeon i. 6 All of these officers were ‘the right sort’. Which meant that their parents had all had sufficient money to send them to the more expensive schools. 1956 I. Bromige Enchanted Garden i. iii. 28 The importance of knowing the right people, of being seen with the right people. 1963 L. Peters Tarakian vii. 98 Firth..had been to one of the ‘right’ schools, and one of the ‘right’ universities, and..belonged to one or two of the ‘right’ clubs. 1973 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Starry Bird xi. 161 He had been to all the right schools and belonged to all the right clubs. 1981 J. Carey John Donne ii. 77 Goodyer knew the right people... He mingled with the dispensers of power and lobbied them on Donne's behalf. |
e. Criminals' slang. Reliable, trustworthy (from the criminal's point of view); friendly or sympathetic to criminals. Freq. in
phr. right guy. Also
right croaker, a doctor who will treat criminals without informing the police, or give prescriptions for drugs.
| 1856 in G. L. Chesterton Revelations of Prison Life I. ix. 137 They [sc. the swell mobsmen] frequent those public-houses the landlords of which they know to be what they term right (i.e. a thief's friend). 1886 A. Pinkerton Thirty Years a Detective 324 You will find him game, a good workman an a ded rite man. 1891 J. Bent Criminal Life 272 Will you go and tell Dutch Doll to come up to try and get me right twirl (good warder). 1891 ‘F. W. Carew’ No. 747 i. 4 Warder—who, when accessible to a bribe, is termed a ‘right-screw’. 1906 H. Green At Actors' Boarding House 61 Sammy explained that..the remainder had dwindled rapidly, what with treating the gang and being a right guy generally. 1911 [see boob n. 1]. 1914 Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 70 Right,..sympathetic in a criminal sense; fixed; squared. 1926 [see in and in adv. 1 c]. 1929 W. R. Burnett Little Caesar i. i. 8 Some day he'll turn yellow. Hear what I say. He's not right. 1929 Hostetter & Beesley It's a Racket! vii. 93 To him [sc. the racketeer], a physician or surgeon is only a ‘croaker’, a ‘right croaker’ if he is the sort who will treat a fugitive criminal's wounds or injuries without notifying the police. 1938 J. Phelan Lifer viii. 70 ‘Friend of yours?’ inquired Mansell. ‘Sure. Mine and Art's and Bill Weldon and—and anyone that's right.’ 1951 Evening Sun (Baltimore) 27 Mar. 4/1 He [sc. a dope addict] may have found he could acquire prescriptions..from a doctor who had his price... (The doctor was a ‘right croaker’). 1953 W. Burroughs Junkie vii. 71 When I told Gains what the hotel clerk said to me and how lucky we were he happened to be a right guy, he said, ‘We've got to pack in. We can't last with this crowd.’ 1969 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. li. 23 We shall use this vocabulary.. to indicate how both races equally—but separately—participate in such aspects of a common ‘inmate culture’ as those of right guys and stoolpigeons. |
9. right way (
cf. 1 b and 1 c):
a. The way of moral rightness or spiritual salvation.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter cxlii. 10 Gast ðin god ᵹelaedeð mec in weᵹe rehtum. c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. ix. 58 Naðer ne hie selfe on ryhtne weᵹ gan noldon, ne oðrum ᵹeðafian. a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. x. (1883) 75 Ᵹebrinᵹan on rihtweᵹe þa ðe ær dweledan. c 1200 Ormin 16501 Crist..wollde turrnenn hemm Inntill þe rihhte weȝȝe. c 1330 Spec. Guy Warw. 22 Ne for loue to god, ne for his eiȝe, To gon out of þe rihte weye. c 1380 St. Augustine 164 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 64/2 For hire sone þat he schulde preye Þat he weore brouht in to rihte weye. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy. ii. 2509 To reuoke to the riȝte weye Swiche as wrongly fro trouþe do forveye. 1781 Cowper Truth 17 Grace leads the right way: if you choose the wrong, Take it, and perish. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xlii, ‘But you are a presbyterian..?’ ‘I am, sir; praised be the light that shewed me the right way’, replied the landlady. |
b. The correct method, or that most conducive to the end in view.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. 9 This is the rightest way and fittest order to serve God. a 1577 Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. (1609) 134 To see who hath taken righter, truer, and more commodious way to gouerne the people as well in warre as in peace. a 1637 B. Jonson Discov. Wks. (Rtldg.) 743/1 If they would venture their industry the right way. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. i. Wks. 1738 II. 10 [He] took the right way to be depos'd. 1705 Addison Italy 390 What Miracles of Architecture they would have left us, had they only been instructed in the right way. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xvi, Thou mayst do the Smith a kind turn, an thou takest this matter the right way. |
c. As
adv. In the proper direction.
| 1704 Compl. Servant Maid (ed. 7) 60 Rub your Sarsnet well, the right way of the Sarsenet. a 1756 Mrs. Heywood New Present (1771) 256 Let it be a constant rule to scrub the boards the right way of the grain; that is lengthways. |
d. The facts or truth
of a matter.
| 1887 A. S. Swan Gates of Eden xvii, I really cannot speak with any certainty, for nobody seems to know the right way of it. |
10. right side:
a. That side of anything which is regarded as the principal, or is naturally turned towards one; the face or upper side.
| 1511–2 Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 6 §1 The Walker..shall not rowe..Clothe..with any Cardes on the right side nor of the wrong side. 1704 Compl. Servant Maid (ed. 7) 61 Smooth them..upon the right side of the Sarsenet. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Cloth, All the sheerings must be on the right Side, except the two last. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 350 What the street medal-sellers call the ‘right-side’—I speak of the ‘penny’ medal..—presents the Crystal Palace. |
| fig. 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 11/2 This..smuggling pedlar (with whom I hope to be right sides uppermost before I die). 1897 Daily News 17 Mar. 2/1 To the power of presenting a case systematically and clearly he united that of putting it, as it has been expressed, ‘right side up’. |
b. The party or principle of which one approves.
| 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. Ep. Ded. 6 Oftentimes they choose the wrong side, and they that take the righter, doe it so by contingency. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxv, Cuthbert..himself..[is] more for the hand than the head, and might be drawn to the right side. |
c. (With
on.) The better or more commendable aspect of anything.
| 1713 Addison Guardian No. 113 ¶4 The Lady has been disappointed on the right side. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! xxvii, At all events,..it's a fault on the right side. |
d. The safe, advantageous, appropriate, desirable (etc.) side
of anything (
spec. of a person's age).
| 1700 T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. 98 He Swears it, and Swears like T. O. on the right side of the Hedge. 1777 P. Thicknesse Year's Journey ii. 228 Get it [sc. information] from a French officer, or a priest, provided they are on the wrong side of forty... Avoid all acquaintance with either, on the right side of thirty. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas x. x. ¶35 A widow on the right side of thirty. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. vi. 197 We are all of us the right side of the door. 1889 Jessopp Coming of Friars iii. 153 Confinement..was..relaxed if one of the brethren could manage to get the right side of the abbot. |
11. Properly pertaining or attached to a person or thing.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 179 Ȝiet ne wile þe louerd ben paid mid his rihcte mol. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2539 Pharao kinges riȝte name. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 226 Rose þe regratere was hir riȝte name. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 239 Wymond of the Wardrop is my richt Name. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 23 Thow..gaif thy self to plaige, Me Catiue to conuoy To my rycht heritage. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. ii. 56 Thou hast frighted the word out of his right sence. 1602 ― Ham. v. ii. 95 Put your Bonet to his right vse, 'tis for the head. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. iv. v, Error? Guilt, guilt, my sonne. Giue it the right name. |
12. Of the mind or mental faculties: Normal, natural, sound, whole. Chiefly in
phr. to be in one's right mind or senses.
| c 1200 Ormin 3838 Ȝiff he seoþ þe mann forrdredd, He wile..ræfenn himm hiss rihhte witt. 1487 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) IV. 23, I, beyng in my right witte and mynde.., hole and not seke. c 1510 Gesta Rom. (W. de W.) L iij, Fader, quod he, it semeth y{supt} thou arte out of thy ryght minde. 1535 Coverdale Mark v. 15 And they..sawe hym which was possessed.., that he sat, and was clothed, and in his right mynde. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. vii. 49 So also Harry Monmouth being in his right wittes, and his good iudgements, turn'd away the fat Knight. 1601 ― Twel. N. v. 305 Prethee read i' thy right wits. 1735 Berkeley Free-think. in Mathematics §8 Wks. 1871 III. 306 By such as are in their right mind. 1818 Shelley Julian & Maddalo Pref., He was evidently a very cultivated and amiable person when in his right senses. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 47 He is not in his right mind, said Ctesippus; he is talking nonsense, and is stark mad. |
13. Of persons:
a. Mentally normal or sound; sane. Chiefly with negatives, and
freq. in
colloq. phr. right in one's (or the) head.
| 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ iii. ii. §6 The World was not generated as Plants or Animals are; and who ever right in his wits asserted that it was? 1680 Sir J. Lauder Decisions (1759) I. 85 He was of a weak judgment, and not very right. 1808 Jamieson s.v. Richt, He's quite richt now, he has come to his senses: No richt, insane. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., He's not right in his head. 1896 J. Hocking Mist on the Moors ii, We've got an old aunt of mine in the carriage who isn't exactly right. |
b. In good health and spirits; sound, well, comfortable. Now chiefly
Austral. and
N.Z. colloq. (influenced by
all right: see sense 15 c below),
exc. in various
colloq. phrases, as
right as my glove,
ninepence,
rain (see also sense 15 a below),
a trivet, etc.
| 1837 Dickens Pickw. l, ‘I hope you are well, sir.’ ‘Right as a trivet, sir,’ replied Bob Sawyer. 1873 J. O. Brookfield Not a Heroine II. 194 ‘Are you quite well enough?’ her mother asked, ‘you really don't look right yet.’ 1873 C. M. Yonge Pillars of House IV. xlvii. 320 With the shout ‘As right as a trivet’, Charles Audley the younger..rode on. 1875 B. Meadows Clin. Obs. 40 This medicine soon put her right. 1889 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xx, We both felt as right as the bank. 1890 [see ninepence 1]. 1909 Beerbohm Yet Again 229 He looked,..‘fit as a fiddle’, or ‘right as rain’. 1914 W. W. Jacobs Night Watches i. 14 ‘It was done in the collision,’ said Mr. Scutts... ‘I was as right as rain before then.’ 1944 P. W. Cowan in Coast to Coast 1943 166 He gave Mac the lantern. ‘Think you'll be all right? Anything you want?’ ‘I'll be right,’ Mac said. 1959 Listener 15 Jan. 115/2, I gave him a drink..and he was right. 1960 G. Sanders Mem. Professional Cad i. iii. 35 It had severed some ligaments or what-not that caused him to have a slight limp afterwards, but apart from that he was as right as rain. 1963 A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 48 She poked her head out and cried: ‘Are yer right?’ I answered that I was far from right. 1967 N. Freeling Strike Out 30 ‘Was there anything wrong with the horse?’ ‘Not a thing... Horse was right as rain.’ 1977 J. Aiken Last Movement ii. 48 He will be right as rain,..don't you worry. 1980 J. Melville Chrysanthemum Chain 169 He'll surface as right as ninepence in due course. |
c. to set or put (one) right, to correct or direct (one); also, to justify (oneself).
| 1699 Bentley Phal. 280, I'll set you right in your opinion of Minos. 1710 Managers' Pro & Con 35 Sacheverell's part was to set right (as they cant) the young Clergy. a 1734 North Life Ld. Kpr. North (1742) 26 The more mistaken he found himself, the more violent was he in his Proceedings; as if, by that Means, he was to set himself right. 1902 Mason Four Feathers xiv, He looks as if he had lost his way. I will go on and put him right. |
d. Having a proper disposition
towards, or relations
with, another.
| 1754 Chatham Lett. Nephew iv. 25 If you are not right towards God, you can never be so towards men. 1876 J. Parker Paracl. i. viii. 124 The Holy Ghost teaches that we cannot be right with one another until we are right with God. |
e. Colloq. phr. I'm all right, Jack: see
Jack n.1 3 c.
f. to see (someone) right, to look after (someone), to protect (that person's) interests.
| 1974 D. Francis Knock Down xii. 147 Get me ten good two-year-olds and I'll see you right. 1975 Times 4 Jan. 12/6 No one's ever come to me before a fight and said ‘Do this or do that and we'll see you right.’ |
14. a. Of persons: Judging, thinking, or acting in accordance with truth or the facts of the case; correct in opinion, judgement, or procedure.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. ii. 102 You are right, Iustice, and you weigh this well. 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 197 That negative and contradictory humour, of thinking they are then rightest, when they are unlikest the Papacie. 1665 Baxter Quaker's Catech. Pref. C iij b, I would ask you whether in all these great Points you think the Papists are righter then the Reformed Churches? 1716 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) V. 320 He observes that Hollenshede is righter than Parker. 1781 Cowper Conversat. 96 'Tis hard if all is false that I advance—A fool must now and then be right, by chance. 1817 Keats Let. Wks. 1889 III. 95, I think he is right, and yet I think Hazlitt is right, and yet I think Wordsworth is rightest. 1890 Law Times Rep. LXIII. 735/1, I think that the learned judge was right in applying that rule, in the present case. |
b. right! = You are right; you say well. Also, in recent slang use,
right you are!| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 24 Chi. O 'tis a verse in Horace, I know it well... Moore. I iust, a verse in Horace: right, you haue it. 1634 Ford Perk. Warbeck i. ii, She's..A princess of the blood, and I a subject. Hunt. Right; but a noble subject. 1698 Boyle, etc. Bentley Exam. (ed. 2) 178 Right! it sometimes happens that a Word is Older than the Thing to which it is apply'd. 1732 Pope Hor. Sat. ii. ii. 111 ‘Right,’ cries his Lordship, ‘for a rogue in need To have a Taste is insolence indeed’. 1781 Cowper Hope 397 Right, says an ensign; and, for aught I see, Your faith and mine substantially agree. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxvii, ‘I will certainly..be entirely guided by your experience.’ ‘Right, Mr. Osbaldistone—right.’ 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain ii. xvi. 515 ‘I must be away from it all.’.. ‘Forgetting yourself,’ said Ethel. ‘Right. I want to have no leisure to think about myself,’ said Norman. 1874 Slang Dict. 269 Right you are, a phrase implying entire acquiescence in what has been said or done. 1877 A. J. Munby Diary 23 Jan. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 386 ‘I think I should go lengthwise down the boards,’ said Massa, gravely. ‘Right!’ said the servant. 1883 H. Smart At Fault xviii. 213 Everybody will come to you; they will say Mr. Marlinson knows all about it. And you can reply, ‘Right you are, I do... But..my lips are sealed.’ 1888 W. B. Churchward Blackbirding 110, I said ‘Right you are; I don't think I'll go up’. 1912 E. R. Burroughs in All-Story Mag. Oct. 246/2 ‘If the mutineers are victorious our one slim hope lies in not having attempted to thwart or antagonize them.’ ‘Right you are, Alice. We'll keep in the middle of the road.’ 1923 D. H. Lawrence Kangaroo xiv. 310 The same good-humoured, right-you-are approach from everybody to everybody. ‘Right-you-are! Right-O!’ Somers had been told so many hundreds of times, Right-he-was, Right-O!, that he almost had dropped into the way of it. 1935 ‘L. Ford’ Burn Forever xiii. 120 ‘I reckon you'd jes' as soon drive him over yonder to th' Crossroads? Hit ain't but a little piece.’ ‘Right,’ Ben said... He opened the car door and turned back. 1970 R. Gadney Drawn Blanc iv. 28 ‘Have you ever thought of working for the Foreign Service?’ ‘The British one?’ ‘Right.’ |
c. too right (
Austral. and
N.Z. colloq.), expressing agreement or approval.
| 1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 51 Two eyes right or too right, certainly. 1926 K. S. Prichard Working Bullocks iv. 41 ‘That's to say you're as big a fool fruit-growing as Bill Graeme is catching wild horses.’ Wally Burke's eyes took the fire-light as he smiled. ‘Too right,’ he said. 1936 Punch 22 Apr. 456/2 For she is crumbling, the poor old boat... ‘Take care you don't put the brush through her.’ ‘Too right,’ as the girls of Melbourne used to say. ‘Too painfully right.’ 1943 D. Stewart Ned Kelly i. i. 23 Devine's still in the lock-up?.. Too right he is. 1963 D. Ballantyne in C. K. Stead N.Z. Short Stories (1966) 162 ‘Dad, you're not going out at this time of night, are you?’ my mother said. ‘Too right I am,’ Grandad said. 1977 Zigzag Aug. 31/1 Something better change—too right mate! |
d. Phr.
how right you are (and variants) used to express strong agreement or affirmation.
| 1927 H. T. Lowe-Porter tr. Mann's Magic Mountain iv. 183 He saw how right Joachim had been in saying that it was hard to get acquainted here. 1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night viii. 167 ‘She's awfully kind. But I'm always having to be grateful... It makes me want to bite.’ ‘How right you are,’ said Harriet. 1942 E. Waugh Put out More Flags ii. 98 ‘I expect they thought that if we had time we should try and stop them coming.’ ‘How right they were.’ 1957 M. Kennedy Heroes of Clone i. i. 8 ‘Don't say exclusive when you mean expensive.’.. ‘How right you are!’ 1967 O. Norton Now lying Dead i. 1 Not that anything they decided could embarrass the police, as the coroner gently pointed out. And how right he was. 1970 G. Butler Coffin from Past xiv. 147 ‘I always said I'd move away from here... I never liked the district.’.. ‘How right you were,’ he said. |
e. Appended as an interrogative to the end of a statement, inviting agreement or approval,
= am I right? orig. U.S.| 1961 ‘E. Fenwick’ Friend of Mary Rose (1962) x. 126, I gave her fifty dollars..fifty bucks, that's not raisins, right? 1968 New Yorker 4 May 49 We'll always groove with one another, right? 1969 ‘P. Kavanagh’ Such Men are Dangerous i. 27 He was just doing his job, right? 1971 Melody Maker 13 Nov. 36/6 You're getting paid, right? Let's have a little co-operation around here. 1977 Time 26 Sept. 43/2, I was living alone on the West Side, in a one-room apartment with the bathroom out in the hallway and the bathtub in the kitchen, right? 1981 G. V. Higgins Rat on Fire xxvi. 159 You been here before, right? You can probably read the sign. |
15. a. In a satisfactory or proper state; in good order.
to get..right, to set in order.
to make it right, to square or settle matters. Also in
colloq. phr. right as rain (see also sense 13 b above).
In earliest
quots. app. transf. from sense 1.
| 1662 Wilson Cheats ii. iv. (1664) 26 All's well, and as right as my Leg. 1701 Farquhar Sir H. Wildair i. i, All right as my leg. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 281, I..desir'd him to..keep all right in the Ship. c 1800 T. J. Dibdin Snug Little Island, It's a snug little island! A right little, tight little island! 1822 Shelley Faust ii. 374 That was all right, my friend. 1889 J. J. Hissey Tour Phaeton 213 We made it ‘right’ by the expenditure of half-a-crown. 1891 ‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley xi, It will be all right, as right as right can be, if all goes well. 1892 Mrs. H. Ward David Grieve ii. v, Don't mix up my silks, Lucy; I shall never get them right again. 1894 W. Raymond Love & Quiet Life x. 108 ‘'Tes so right as rain, Zir,’ zes I. 1894 Somerville & ‘Ross’ Real Charlotte II. xx. 78 If only this infernal Fitzpatrick girl would have stayed with her cads in Dublin everything would have been as right as rain. 1908 A. S. M. Hutchinson Once aboard Lugger vi. vi. 332 We'll pull through right as rain. 1929 W. P. Ridge Affect. Regards 110 If your husband hadn't put a spoke in, it would have been as right as rain. 1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart i. 15 Proteus. How did you get on with the King? Boanerges. Right as rain, Joe. You leave the king to me. 1973 Times 15 Dec. 7/5, I wished to renew my membership in the club. He licked his lips with relish as he lifted my familiar card from his file cabinet. ‘Right as rain, sir.’ |
b. In
phr. to come (all) right.
| 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xvii, Their mother, who looked..more faded than she ought to have looked; and their grandmother,..who seemed to have got past that stage, and to have come all right again. 1885 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Chr. Kirkland III. vi. 194 Perhaps on a second trial things would come more right than before. 1888 M{supc}Carthy & Praed Ladies' Gallery II. 56 All will come right in the end. |
c. all right, used to express acquiescence or assent. Also in predicative use, in the sense ‘satisfactory, acceptable’, and as
adj. phr. (see
all right 2).
all right by or with (someone): acceptable to (that person).
| 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxviii, ‘Stand firm, Sam,’ said Mr. Pickwick, looking down. ‘All right, sir,’ replied Mr. Weller. 1887 Courier 7 July 5/4 Witness told Treadwell what Wright had told him, and he replied, ‘All right’. 1898 G. B. Shaw Candida ii. 124 It will be all right: he will forgive me. 1914 ― Fanny's First Play iii. 198 Is your aunt all right? 1939 R. Chandler Let. 19 Feb. (1966) 195 The Big Sleep is very unequally written. There are scenes that are all right. 1950 W. Hammond Cricketers' School i. 20 That was all right by Jim! 1958 Listener 20 Nov. 835/1 If ever he wants to use what I'm going to say, it's perfectly all right with me. 1959 Ibid. 22 Jan. 153/1 Joe said: ‘That's all right by me.’ 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File iii. 25 ‘You want a meal?’ ‘Yes,’ I said quickly. ‘That's all right, then, sit down.’ |
d. she's (or she'll be) right: all is well, that is fine.
Austral. and
N.Z. colloq.| 1947 D. M. Davin For Rest of our Lives xvi. 81 She'll be right as soon as we get back with the boys again. 1950 N.Z. Listener 3 Mar. 12 ‘She's right!’ Miss Cooper said, with a good Pig Islander's inflexion. 1958 Ibid. 9 May 6/4 ‘They'll be very upset to think that they couldn't have met you gentlemen here, but I'll convey your regards to them, and thank you very much.’ Ike said, ‘She's right, ma'am, she's right.’ 1959 Times 27 June 7/7 He calls in the appropriate tradesman, who fixes the thing so that it works again, but not very well. He protests and is told: ‘She'll be right.’ 1961 B. Crump Hang on a Minute 33 Thanks for the beer, added Jack. She's right, said the barman. Hope you get the job. 1974 A. Buzo Coralie Lansdowne says No 65 ‘There's more in the car. I'll go and get it.’ ‘Do you want a wheel⁓barrow?’ ‘She'll be right.’ |
III. 16. Having due title or right; rightful, legitimate, lawful. Now
arch.| a 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. iv. xxvi[i]. (1890) 360 Heora riht cyning Wihtred. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1100, Margareta þære goda cwæne Eadwardes cynges maᵹan & of þan rihtan ængla landes kyne kynne. 13.. K. Alis. 1140 (Bodl. MS.), He is biknowe he is his son And þat he is riȝth heir After hym to regne veir. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 56 Right heyre of þe lond. 1433 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 441/2 John Duc of Norfolk, fader unto your said Warde, as right enheriter. 1492 Ibid. VI. 450/1 To the right heyres of the same Elizabeth. 1519 Knaresb. Wills (Surtees) I. 9 To the use of my right heires. a 1564 Becon Fl. Godly Prayer Pref., They slew their right king and set up three kings. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 3 Twenty Souldiers..took good order to see the commodities dryed, and restored to the right owners. 1731–8 Swift Pol. Conv. 62 He has a great Estate, only the Right Owner keeps him out of it. |
17. Justly entitled to the name; having the true character of; true, real, veritable.
a. Of persons, their character or position.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 238 Se hyra, seðe nis riht hyrde,..he forlæt ða scep. c 1000 Canons ælfric in Thorpe Laws II. 344 Ne mæsse-preost, ne diacon, ne nan riht canonicus, næbbe on his huse nænne wifman. a 1300 Cursor M. 14022 If þis man war right prophet,..He aght to wijt al quat sco were. 1384 Chaucer L.G.W. 2628 Hypermnestra, My ryght doghter, tresoure of myn hert. 1481 Paston Lett. III. 278 She is ryght systyr, of fader and modyr, to Herry Ynglows. 1526 Tindale John i. 47 Behold a right hisrahelite, in whom is no guile. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 191 A right Gentleman is sooner seene by the tryall of his vertue than blasing of his armes. 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair i. iii, She'll ha' conuey'd her state, safe enough from thee, an' she be a right widdow. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 221 He went to the sepulchre of their great Saint..where he did his Devotions as a right Mahumetane. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 144 ¶7 If you describe a right Woman in a laudable Sense, she should have gentle Softness, tender Fear. 1727 Swift Gulliver iv. iii, The Houyhnhnms..could hardly believe me to be a right Yahoo, because my Body had a different Covering from others of my Kind. 1813 Scott Rokeby i. xii, Right English all, they rush'd to blows. 1885 Grant Allen in Dict. Nat. Biog. II. 215 To mark him [Athelstan] out, in spite of his illegitimacy, as a right ætheling. |
| transf. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 286 It is not often that we can..enjoy a day of right Chaucer. |
b. Of qualities or things. Also of some animals,
esp. right whale: see
whale n.| a 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. ii. ii. (1890) 98 Ond he ða ongon..heo monian & læran, þæt heo rihte sibbe & lufan him betweonum hæfden. 971 Blickl. Hom. 109 Þa men þe bearn habban, læran hie þam rihtne þeodscipe. c 1200 Ormin 9868 Þa staness þatt he spacc þæroff, Þeȝȝ wærenn rihhte staness. c 1290 St. Michael 391 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 311 Þe riȝte put of helle is a-midde þe eorþe. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4150 Þai sal turne þe Iewery Until right cristendom halely. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1756 It reuys me my rest & my right hele. 1528 Tindale Obed. Chr. Man To Rdr., Prosperity is a right curse, and a thing that God giveth to His enemies. 1590 C'tess Pembroke Antonie 1425 Is not this folie right? 1612 Bacon Ess., Wisdom for Man's Self (Arb.) 182 It is a poore Centre of a mans actions, himselfe. It is right earth. 1623 Camden Rem. 284 A right woman and Lady like disdaine may be obserued in the same Author. 1771 Wesley Jrnl. 27 Aug., We crept through a right Welsh road. 1817 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) IV. ii. 42 Some of the Scotch Whigs, of the right old fanatical leaven, have waxed wroth with Jedediah. 1834 Cunningham Wks. Burns VII. 170 The words instanced against him, ‘cootie’ and ‘heugh’, are right old Scottish. 1875 G. J. Whyte-Melville Katerfelto xxix, He's a right deer, I tell ye. |
c. Of material substances, fabrics, etc.: Genuine, not counterfeit or spurious.
| 1466 in Grose Antiq. Repertory I. 12 To paye for his Ransom thre yardes of Right Sattin to the Taker. 1529 More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 237/1 Some man..canne perceyue by hys owne eye whether a stone bee righte or counterfet. 1582 N.T. (Rhem.) John xii. 3 Marie therfore tooke a pound of ointement of right spikenard. 1662 J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 32 Michael Boyen..sayes, that the right Musk is made..of that Animal which he calls Hiam. 1681 Grew Musæum iii. iv. 282 Rough Diamonds..: a mark to know a right one by. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 134 ¶2 By the Application of your Medicines, taken only with half an Ounce of right Virginia Tobacco. 1769 Entick London IV. 278 It is well pewed, and wainscotted with right wainscot. 1821 Scott Pirate xxxi, I will bestow some thought on the matter, with the help of a right pipe of Trinidado. 1869 Ruskin Q. of Air i. §32 Whenever you draw a pure, long, full breath of right heaven, you take Athena into your heart, through your blood. |
† d. Bot. Rightly so called; true, genuine.
Obs.| 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 34 Dictamnus maye be named in englishe righte Dittany, for some cal Lepidium also Dittany. Ibid. 72, I neuer sawe the ryghte Melilote yet in England. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. lxi. 522 The right Artechoke hath great long broade leaues. 1611 Cotgr., Dictame blanc,..called also, bastard, or false Dittanie; and oft mistaken..for the right Dittanie. |
e. As an intensifying word in derogatory and ironical contexts. Phr.
a right one: a fool; an extremely stupid or awkward person.
| 1960 Daily Tel. 21 Jan. 15/7 Two young soldiers of the R.A.S.C. were described as ‘right mugs’ in written plans that apparently referred.. to Pte. John Terence Bush's attempted escape. 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File xxx. 190 We'd been a couple of right ninnies. Followed all the way! 1965 Oxford Mail 17 Nov. 11/5 Mr. Weir said that when student teacher Ian Brodie first broached his dream of a monster sandwich he thought: ‘I've got a right one 'ere.’ 1968 B. Turner Sex Trap xiv. 131 ‘I got a right one today,’ she said. ‘Thought I'd had them all, you know, but this one wanted me to hold his John Thomas.’ 1973 Observer 14 Jan. 1/4 ‘The Government did not know that there was no settlement in writing, and how could an order apply to something which did not exist,’ he said. ‘The Government made a right mess of it.’ 1976 Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 13 Nov. 9/4 He said the Conservative party would inherit a ‘right old mess’. 1978 I. Murdoch Sea 104 ‘You look a right clown,’ I said. |
IV. 18. a. The distinctive epithet of the hand (see
right hand) normally the stronger; by extension also of that side of the body, its limbs, their clothing, etc.; hence
transf. of corresponding parts of other objects.
right bank (of a river), that on the right of a person facing down the stream. (
Cf. left a. 3.)
| c 1205 Lay. 28040 Ich hæld to grunden, þat mi riht ærm to-brac. c 1300 Havelok 2408 Godard..smot him þoru þe rith arum. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 6960 Whan Guncelyn byheld þe knyght, Þe hand he lyfte þat was þe ryght. 1382 Wyclif Rev. x. 2 He putte his riȝt foot on the se. c 1400 Song Roland 102 Redely the right ere he pullid from the hed. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 434/1 Ryghte parte of a beest, dexter. 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 758 Richarde..was..crooke backed, his left shoulder much higher than his right. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §10 Whan the ryght fote ryseth, than cast them fro the. 1611 Bible 2 Kings xi. 11 From the right corner of the Temple. 1703 Farquhar Inconstant iii. i, The secret flew out of the right pocket of your coat. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 457/2 The Virgin Mary crowned, with her Babe in her right arm. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxii, Monmouth..might be discovered on the top of the right bank of the river. 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 123/1 When within seventy yards I sent my right ball through his shoulder. |
| Comb. 1675 Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 51, I desire nothing more..than that God would pull out right-eye sins. c 1711 Petiver Gazophyl. viii. 72 Right-nosed Limington Fossile Oyster. 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 198 A small right-inguinal hernia. 1891 Sir D. Wilson Right Hand 169, I believe about four were left and four right⁓footed. |
b. Math. Used to denote an entity whose definition involves a pair of elements in a conventionally defined order (see
quots.).
| [1905 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. VI. 203 So that 6× and the right-hand distributive law fail. 1933 Ann. Math. XXXIV. 483 When F(x) = D1(x)D2(x) we shall call D2(x) a right-hand and D1(x) a left-hand divisor of F(x).] 1937 [see ideal a. and n. B. 3]. 1938 F. D. Murnaghan Theory of Group Representations iv. 91 The set Hs-1 (which consists of the inverses of the elements of the left coset sH) has no element in common with H. We term it the right coset of H determined by s-1. 1962 Curtis & Reiner Representation Theory Finite Groups ii. 50 The group M is called a right R-module if there is a product mr defined such that mr {elem} M and (m1+ m2)r = m1r + m2r, m(r1 + r2) = mr1 + mr2, m(r1r2) = (mr1)r2, m.1 = m, for all r {elem} R, m {elem} M... The right regular module RR is defined similarly, and its submodules are the right ideals of R. Ibid. viii. 395 Let S be a subset of A... The right annihilator r(S) is given by r(S) = {ob}a {elem} A: Sa = 0{cb}. 1971 E. C. Dade in Powell & Higman Finite Simple Groups viii. 280 We regard the R-endomorphisms as right operators on M. 1972 A. G. Howson Handbk. Terms Algebra & Anal. v. 28 Similarly, we can form the set of all elements of the form zx, where z {elem} S and, denoting this by Sx, refer to it as a right coset of S. Ibid., There is no universal convention regarding which set of cosets should be termed ‘right’ and which ‘left’. |
† 19. right half.
a. The right-hand side.
Obs.| a 1175 Lamb. Hom. 141 Þer stod a richt halue and a luft alse an castel wal. c 1200 Ormin 144 Godess enngell comm himm to O rihht hallf bi þatt allterr. c 1290 Beket 2176 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 169 Bote fram þe riȝt half of is frount toward þe left chinne A smal rewe þere was of blode. a 1325 Prose Psalter xl[i]v. 11 Þe quene stode at þy ryȝt half in gildan cloþyng. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xx. 21 Seie that..my sonys sitten, oon at thi riȝthalf, and oon at thi lefthalf, in thi kyngdam. c 1400 Love Bonavent. Mirr. (1908) 249 Joseph gooth vppe on the laddre stondynge on the riȝt half. |
† b. The right hand.
Obs.| a 1325 Prose Psalter cxliii. [cxliv.] 9 Whaus mouþe spake vanite, her riȝthalf is riȝthalf of wickednes. 1382 Wyclif Prov. iii. 16 Lengthe of daȝis in his riȝt half, and in the left half of it richessis and glorie. 1388 ― Ps. xv[i]. 10 Delityngis ben in thi riȝthalf til in to the ende. |
20. right side.
a. The right-hand side; the right-hand quarter or region.
† Also
righter side (
quot. 1565).
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xl[i]v. 11 Þe quene vpstode at þi rightside in gilt clathynge: vmgifen with sernes. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 362 How Crist sittiþ on þe riȝt side of his Fadir. c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxxiii, Þenne þe lorde shulde take vppe þe hertes heede by þe reght syde. c 1440 Astron. Cal. (MS. Ashm. 391), Þan goo toward þe right side til ye finde your dominical lettre. 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 761 The king..layd him downe on his right side. 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. i. (1593) 2 Two Zones do cut the heaven upon the righter side, And other twaine upon the left likewise the same divide. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Starboard, When the Man at the Helm should put the Helm to the Right Side of the Ship. 1771 Encycl. Brit. I. 55/1 The earth..will be thrown on the right side of the sheath. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth ii, He came on the right side of Catharine,..and slackened his pace. 1887 Rider Haggard Allan Quatermain v, Let them make their way one to the right side of the kraal and one to the left. |
| attrib. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 68 A right side tool, with two cutting edges. 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 518 The right side tool..is thus named because it cuts from the right hand towards the left. |
† b. The right hand (of a person).
Obs. rare.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 74 Lat nouȝte þi left half..Wyte what þow worchest with þi riȝt syde. 1382 Wyclif Prov. xxvii. 16 The oile of his riȝt side he auoide out. |
c. to rise, or get out of bed, on one's right side, used with allusion to the supposed luckiness of the practice, or its effect on one's temper.
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 51 You rose on your right syde here right. 1575 Gamm. Gurton ii. i, Thou rose not on thy right side, or else blest thee not well. 1608 Machin Dumb Knight iv. i. H ij, Sure I said my prayers, ris'd on my right side. 1678 Ray Prov. (ed. 2) 268 He rose on his right side. |
21. Special collocations in sport:
right back,
right centre,
right corner,
right end,
right forward,
right guard,
right half. Also
right field (Baseball): the part of the outfield to the right of the batter as he faces the pitcher; also, a fielder in this position;
right fielder: a fielder in the right field. See also
right wing 2, right-winger (
b).
| 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 419/2 The right back and the right half-back look after the opposing left wing forwards. 1956 Granta 18 Feb. 5/1, I had a very easy game at right back. |
| 1951 Sport 6–12 Apr. 18/4 It was only justice when their right-centre Hunt opened their account with a try. 1969 Eagleson & McKie Terminol. Austral. Nat. Football iii. 9 Right centre, the player occupying the right centre position in a team. |
| 1955 R. Smith Doyle's Lifetime in Hurling iv. 34 Harney roving down to the right corner angled a grand point. 1975 Irish Independent 27 May 12/1 Kilkenny will be without..right corner back Fan Larkin and right corner forward Mick Brennan in next Sunday's Wembley [hurling] tournament. |
| 1896 Camp & Deland Football 344 Instructions to Right End... You should help the right tackle block his man. 1970 Washington Post 30 Sept. d3/5 Brown, the 6-foot-5, 265-pound defensive right end, charged through Baltimore's offensive line. 1974 Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer 13 Oct. c.12/7 The Jackets locked up the game with 10:09 remaining as quarterback Jim Tressel jaunted around right end for a 16-yard touchdown. |
| 1857 Spirit of Times 29 Aug. 404/3 Enterprise Club. Maxfield, catcher;..Davis, right field; Knight, second base. 1867 [see left field s.v. left a. 3 c]. 1949 Marshfield (Wisconsin) News-Herald 19 July 9/4 Corbett hit a change of pace pitch on a line into right field for the second Tomahawk hit. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 31/3 With one out, Bob Robertson lined a double down the rightfield Line. 1974 Evening Herald (Rock Hill, S. Carolina) 18 Apr. 6/3 Mike Williams then unloaded a triple down the rightfield line{ddd}Roberson and Williams came around to score on a Mussman balk. |
| 1867 Ball Players' Chron. 25 July 1/4 The right fielder was active at times, once making a very handsome stop. 1889 ‘Mark Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xlii. 533 What a handy right-fielder he was! 1912 C. Mathewson Pitching in a Pinch 27 Kane, the little rightfielder on the Cincinnati club, was the first man up. 1957 [see left fielder s.v. left a. 3 c]. 1977 Time 12 Dec. 57/1 In 1927, with Leftfielder Meusel hitting .337, Centerfielder Earle Combs .356 and Rightfielder Babe Ruth .356 plus 60 home runs, the Yankees had what many students of the game consider the best outfield in baseball history. |
| 1911 P. H. Davis Football xviii. 446 Yale... Right Guard, R. C. Tripp, '06. 1970 Washington Post 30 Sept. d1/3 Right guard Vince Promuto was trying to loosen up a bruised knee and rookie Paul Laaveg of Iowa filled in for him. |
| 1905 P. Walker How to play Assoc. Football 36 In this and following diagrams..L.B., R.H...represent respectively..left-back, right-half. 1928 in B. James England v Scotland (1969) vi. 134 Right-half Edwards worked hard and at times effectively. 1947 Sporting Mirror 7 Nov. 9/1 Tunstall, United forward, raced after a long pass from his right half. 1951 Sport 7–13 Jan. 13/4 Perseverance has repaid Billy Stroud, right-half-back of Newport County. 1969 Eagleson & McKie Terminol. Austral. Nat. Football iii. 10 Right half forward, the player occupying the right half-forward position in a team. 1975 Irish Times 24 May 3/1 Their right-half forward, Francis Loughnane, a man who..has won many games for the county. |
22. a. Conservative, reactionary; applied
spec. to (members or supporters of) that part of a political party or grouping especially noted for its conservatism (see
right n. 17 d);
right of centre [
centre n. 15]: tending to hold conservative political views. See also
right wing 3.
The use originates with the seating positions of the 1789 French National Assembly: see
quot. 1837 and the note
s.v. centre n. 15.
| 1794 tr. C. Desmoulins's Hist. Brissotins 40 La Source, the least corrupted of those who voted with the left, and dined with the right side of the Convention, but whose pride was excited against Robespierre. 1829 Ann. Reg. 1828 162/2 The result of this election proved that..the union—scarcely a natural union—of a fraction of the extreme right or royalist side, with the whole of the left, or liberal side, which, at the general election had driven him from office, was still continued to keep him out. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vi. 307 There is a Right Side (Coté Droit), a Left Side (Coté Gauche); sitting on M. le President's right hand, or on his left: the Coté Droit conservative; the Coté Gauche destructive. 1933 Labour Monthly July 419 In order to defend ‘democracy’ it is necessary to maintain a Left Cartel Government in office so as to defeat the menace of a Right Bloc Government. 1938 D. M. Pickles French Polit. Scene iii. 60 A group labelled ‘Democratic’ is invariably Right, as (with one exception) are all groups labelled ‘Republican’. 1958 P. Johnson in N. Mackenzie Conviction 207, I had a job on..a glossy Paris magazine. It was vaguely right-of-centre, superficially progressive. 1962 Listener 18 Jan. 115/1 The party has in fact swung round so fast that some worthy stalwarts who think of themselves as right-of-centre are still surprised suddenly to find themselves stranded way out on the left of the official party line. 1964 Gould & Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 383/2 The term right is most commonly (though not exclusively) used as a pejorative term, by those who believe themselves to be on the left. 1973 R. E. M. Irving Christian Democracy in France viii. 260 Although boosted by extreme right votes, the CD did even worse than the Centre in 1962. 1974 T. Allbeury Snowball xiii. 69 A right-of-centre Trades Union delegate and a Midlands MP passed notes. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 28 Aug. 13/2 They survive by being cleaner than clean, righter than right, and purging everybody else except their own carefully selected proteges. 1977 Times 18 Feb. 12/4 Constituency pressure against a number of right-of-centre MPs..has undermined the party's position in the country. 1978 Times 26 July 15/4 We were dazzled..whether we were politically right, left or centre. |
b. right deviationism: in a Communist party or society, (advocacy of) departure or divergence from orthodox principles or policies towards more conservative principles. So
right deviationist, an advocate or proponent of such principles.
| 1930 [see deviation 3 e]. 1957 R. N. C. Hunt Guide to Communist Jargon xxix. 103 The Party and its leaders..will be accused of that form of opportunism which goes by the name of right-deviationism. 1958 G. M. Carter Politics of Inequality ii. 61 In September, 1931, Bunting, W. H. Andrews, Solly Sachs and other prominent Communists were expelled from the Party for ‘right deviationism’. 1958 P. Kemp No Colours or Crest vii. 141 This attitude branded him as a Right deviationist in the eyes of his fellow Communists. |
V. 23. Comb. a. Parasynthetic, as
right-eyed,
right-footed,
right-twisted.
b. right-counter,
right-cross;
right bower, the jack of trumps in Euchre; also
fig.;
right-to-left attrib. phr., designating movement from the right to the left.
| 1839 Spirit of Times 24 Aug. 294/2 The right and left bower in the game of Euchre. 1863 in Ann. Army of Cumberland 501 Smith..said he would..furnish him with a letter of introduction to his ‘right bower’ in Nashville. The right bower proved to be Dr. Hudson. 1872 G. P. Burnham Mem. U.S. Secret Service p. vii, Right bower, the second-best card in euchre; next to the white ‘joker’. 1946 Morehead & Mott-Smith Penguin Hoyle 29 The second-highest is the jack of the trump suit, called the right bower. a 1964 H. P. Tritton in Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads (1964) 228 Gently turn the sheep around so the right bower couldn't see. |
| 1950 J. Dempsey Championship Fighting 10 He landed a right-counter to the head. |
| 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai iii. 52, I..followed it up with a..right-cross with the school cap. |
| 1904 Science 8 Apr. 592/1 If right-eyed, the engineer can see the track and signals better from the right side of the boiler than from the left. Ibid. 593/2 It may be better for the oculist to leave a person right-eyed rather than to give such lenses as suddenly compel left-eyedness. 1932 Amer. Jrnl. Ophthalm. XV. 321/1 Most right handed people are right eyed. |
| 1934 Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Jan. 4/2 All the animals that set themselves to grip their prey, are right-footed. |
| 1960 V. Jenkins Lions Down Under 174 He came up into an orthodox right-to-left threequarter movement. 1964 E. A. Nida Toward Sci. Transl. vi. 136 In many instances a very long sentence, even though having right-to-left attribution and with several potential terminal points, must be broken up into smaller segments to avoid formal overloading of the communication. 1969 Listener 24 July 119/3 Clark acknowledges the assistance of Carlo Pedretti, with his unrivalled knowledge of Leonardo's hand (especially of that maddening right-to-left script). |
| 1934 Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Jan. 4/2 A right-twisted shell lies conveniently for the waves breaking upon it so that they may press it more closely to the rock. 1934 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Stony Limits 120 A right-twisted shell lies apt for the waves..to press it more closely to the rock. |
Add:
[III.] [17.] [c.] (
b) Of a work of art,
esp. a painting: having a correct attribution. Opp.
wrong a. 5 d.
| 1969 C. Irving Fake! (1970) xiv. 173 The thing I dislike most is being called in to tell if a painting is right or wrong. 1986 Sunday Times 7 Sept. 1/4 If a painting is not great, but ‘right’, it could cost {pstlg}700,000 to {pstlg}1m. If it is ‘wrong’, it could be just {pstlg}70,000 to {pstlg}100,000. 1987 Observer 26 Apr. 40/2 Many are obviously ‘not right’ so far as serious collectors or dealers are concerned. |
▪ IV. right, v. (
raɪt)
Forms: 1
rihtan (
rehtan), 3–5
rihten (3
rihhtenn,
rehtten,
risten), 3–4
rihte, 9
Sc. richt; 3–5
riȝte(n, 4
riȝtyn,
riȝtte), 4–5
righte, 4–
right (7
wright); 1
ryhtan, 3–4
ryhte(n, 5
ryhtyn,
rythyn,
Sc. rycht; 4–5
ryȝte(n, 5
ryghte(yn; also
dial. 7–9
reet, 9
reight,
raight.
[Common Teutonic: OE. rihtan, ryhtan, rehtan, = OFris. riuchta (mod.Fris. rjuchtsje), MDu. (and Du.) richten, rechten, OS. rihtian (MLG. richten, rechten), OHG. rihtan, rihten (G. richten), ON. rétta (Norw. retta, Sw. rätta, Da. rette), f. reht right a.] I. trans. † 1. To make straight (a path, way, etc.); to straighten.
Obs.| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John i. 23 Ic [am] stefne clioppendes in uoestern, ‘rehtas woeᵹ drihtnes’. c 1200 Ormin 9201 Gaþ till, & rihhteþþ swiþe wel Drihhtiness narrwe stiᵹhess. Ibid. 9208 All þatt ohht iss wrang & crumb Shall effnedd beon & rihhtedd. |
† 2. To guide, direct (movements, etc.).
Obs.| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §3 He riht & ræt eallum ᵹesceaftum, swa swa good stiora anum scipe. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke i. 79 To rehtanne foet usra in we[ᵹ] sibb[es]. a 1300 E.E. Psalter v. 9 Ryght my wai in syghte þine. Ibid. cxviii. [cxix.] 133 Right my steppes after þi speche. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxxvi. 24 Mannys gangynge til heuen..sall be rightid of god. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 29 He scholde se the liht brenninge, Wherof he mihte his weies rihte To come wher sche was. c 1440 Jacob's Well 234 In alle þi thowȝtys thynke on þi god, & he schal ryȝten þi weyis. |
| refl. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iv. lxv. (1869) 207, I wolde..þat bi þe meetinge þat j haue seyn alle pilgrimes ryght⁓eden hem and kepten hem from forueyinge. |
† 3. To guide as ruler; to govern, rule, judge.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 191 Þurh þe ic þys eowde styran & rihtan nu ne mæᵹ. c 1205 Lay. 6254 Heo sculleð eow þet lond bitaken..and eower laȝen setten to rihten eore leoden. a 1225 Ancr. R. 2 Þeos riwle is euere wiðinnen & rihteð þe heorte. a 1300 Cursor M. 7747 He þat al rightes wit na ros Sal ilk man yeild after he dos. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 170, I finde a tale..Of him that whilom Achab hihte, Which hadde al Irahel to rihte. a 1400 Prymer (1891) 24 Thou demest peplis in euenhed, and folkes in erthe thow riȝtest. 1512 Helyas in Thoms Prose Rom. (1858) III. 149 He was so good and so prue to right and governe the welth publyke. |
† b. intr. To go right, to act rightly.
Obs.—1| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 262 Whan that holi cherche wrongeth, I not what other thing schal rihte. |
II. 4. To set up, establish (
obs.); to raise, rear, erect, set upright. Now
dial.| a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 749 (Gr.), [He] mid handum his eft on heofonrice rihte rodorstolas. c 1205 Lay. 14882 Þas biscopes ferden ȝeond þis lond..& þene cristindom heo rihten. Ibid. 23531 Walles heo gunnen rihten. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xx. 444 He made to be broughte there a longe ladder, and righted it to the walles. Ibid. xxii. 481 Thenne he made hym to be brought whereas the galohous were righted. 1864 Mrs. Lloyd Ladies of Polcarrow 163 Ever since Government has ordered great white stones to be righted up along cliff, for we to see in the dark. |
† 5. a. To set (one) upright; to raise (
up),
esp. after a fall; to lift
up (the head).
Obs.| c 1230 Hali Meid. 25 Þe þat art i wit iwraht to godes ilicnesse, & i-riht, ba bodi up and heaued toward heuene. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xix. 9 Þai ere obligid and þai fell, bot we rase and we ere rightid [L. erecti sumus]. Ibid., Comm. Cant. 526 Thoro takyng in kynde, he riȝttyd vs out of deth. c 1400 English Conquest Irel. (E.E.T.S.) 44 [When] holy chyrche..redy was to falle, wyth hys blode he ryght hyr vp. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xiv. 316 He righted his hede vp. |
† b. refl. To assume an upright position.
Obs.| c 1220 Bestiary 152 If he cloðed man se, cof he waxeð, For up he riȝteð him. a 1225 Ancr. R. 18 Rihteð ou up þer efter, & siggeð ‘Domine, labia mea aperies’. a 1300 Cursor M. 5439 Iacob vp in bedd him right. Ibid. 11694 ‘Rise vp,’ he said, ‘and right þe nu’. a 1400–50 Alexander 839* Þat oþer renishit renke hym rightes in þe sadyll. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon x. 259 He righted hymself vpon his buttocke. |
6. a. to right the helm: (see
quot. 1627).
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 37 Right your Helme, that is, to keepe it in the mid ships, or right vp. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 16 Right your Helmnes. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Righting, when expressed of the helm, implies the replacing it in the middle of the ship, after having produced the required effect. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship 292 Right the helm, and haul up the mizen. 1841 R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. 66 Get the main tack down and sheet aft, and right your helm. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Right the Helm, the order to put it amidships, that is, in a line with the keel. |
b. To bring (a ship) back into a vertical position.
| 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. vii. 367 They righted her again, to set up anew the careening rigging. 1751 Narr. of H.M.S. Wager 18 The Gunner..got the Cutter righted. 1834 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 357 They were forced to cut away the masts to right her. 1861 All Year Round 13 July 365 The crew of the galley righted her with great speed. |
| fig. 1817 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) IV. ii. 46 The mass of property has the same effect on our Constitution, and is a sort of ballast which will always right the vessel, to use a sailor's phrase, and bring it to its due equipoise. |
| refl. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. ii, [The boat] righted herself, and glided swiftly into the still water. |
c. intr. Of a ship, etc.: To recover or reassume a vertical position.
| 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 24 She providentially righted again, tho' slowly. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. ii. (1819) 181 The lab'ring ship may bend, ne'er more to right. 1834 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 107 The ship righted, trembling fore and aft. 1878 Stevenson Inland Voy. 112 The Arethusa..whipped under the tree, righted, and went merrily away down stream. |
d. refl. To recover one's balance or equilibrium; to recover one's footing; to correct a false step. Also
fig.| 1805 Wordsw. Prelude iii. 623 Till 'mid this crowded neighbourhood of things..The head turns round and cannot right itself. 1830 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 137/1 He leaned forward ‘to right himself in the saddle’. 1864 M. Eyre Lady's Walks S. France xxiv. (1865) 263 The pony righted himself, and she rode on..unhurt. |
| fig. 1896 Mrs. Caffyn Quaker Grandmother xxii, Mrs. Ince righted herself instantaneously and superbly. |
e. To restore to the proper position after a fall, overturn, break-down, etc.
| 1823 Blackw. Mag. XIII. 442 Leaving the guides to remount him, and right him in his seat. 1841 B. Hall Patchwork III. vii. 132 By the help of some..peasants..we soon righted the carriage. 1867 Howells Ital. Journ. 192 To bring out the baggage and right the fallen diligence. |
7. To do justice or make reparation to (a person); to redress the injuries of; to avenge.
| c 900 in Thorpe Dipl. Angl. Sax. 139 Heo smeadan hu heo..mehton moniᵹe men ryhtan,..ᵹe on londum ᵹe on ma þara þinga þe heo onforhaldne weran. 1483 Cath. Angl. 308 To Ryghte, iustificare. 1592 Nobody & Someb. in Simpson Sch. Shaks. (1878) 314 Let his sonne Be righted; give him backe the government You tooke from him. 1599 Tyrone Let. in Moryson Itin. (1617) ii. 58 Oneale will spend to see you righted in all your affaires. 1621 Sir D. Norton in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1888) III. 24, I..do appeale to your own noblenes..to right me as you would be righted if my case were your own. 1656 S. H. Gold. Law 23 [He] righted his individual wrong'd brother. 1720 Pope Iliad xix. 192 'Tis the chief Praise that e'er to Kings belong'd To right with Justice, whom with Pow'r they wrong'd. 1782 E. N. Blower Geo. Bateman II. 164 I'll see thee righted, or I'll know the reason why! 1834 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 30 Mrs. Trotter..reminded him that he had the protection of Lord this and Sir Thomas that, who would see him righted. 1891 Spectator 21 Feb., He thinks that when he is wronged, it is the business of the ruler..to right him at once. |
| refl. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 734, I haue seene the day of wrong, through the little hole of discretion, and I will right my selfe like a Souldier. c 1645 Howell Lett. iii. xxiii, In case of non-performance,..to right himself by war. 1733 Swift Legion Club 210 Wks. 1751 X. 227 Bind them fast, or..They will come, and right themselves. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxx, He that cannot right himself by the hand, must use his head. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. i. 25 In that case..the injured person would be always coming back to right himself. |
† b. Const.
of,
on, or
upon (a person).
Obs. rare.
| 1668–9 Pepys Diary 29 Jan., [He] condemns him to pay both their victuals and wages, or right himself of the purser. 1670 Dryden Conq. Granada i. i, My Hands shall right your King on him I seize. 1694 Crowne Regulus i. 3 I'll try To right my countrymen upon all of you. |
c. To vindicate, set right, justify. Chiefly
refl.| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 229 Wher kinde wole himselve rihte,..Ther mai no wiht be therayein. 1617 Heywood 1st Pt. Fair Maid iv. i, I'll complain And right myself before the magistrate. 1621 Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 6 If my ruder Tongue, To right it self, should do your patience wrong. a 1691 Boyle Theodora (1703) xi. 181 Expressing more than she said, without injuring her Modesty she righted her Gratitude. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. iii. 112 The most likely cause..was, the necessity felt by Bournezel to right himself at once at court. |
8. To avenge or redress (an injustice or injury).
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles Prol. 13 Whom all þe londe loued..And ros with him rapely to riȝtyn his wronge. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. v. ii. 4, I am Reuenge sent from below, To ioyne with him and right his hainous wrongs. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. vi. 381 He objects that none righteth the wrongs of Gods people. 1816 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XLI. 527 'Twas well with England, when..Men dar'd to right their wrongs. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. vii. lvii, There is no injury that could be righted in that way. |
III. † 9. To correct or amend (a person, one's life, etc.).
Obs.| 971 Blickling Hom. 63 Þa deman..þæt hie him selfum heora synna bebeorᵹaþ, ᵹe eac oþre synᵹiende rihtaþ. a 1000 Laws Wihtræd (Lieberman) 12 æltheodiᵹe mæn, ᵹif hio hiora hæmed rihtan nyllað, of lande..ᵹewiten. c 1200 Ormin 10361 Itt maȝȝ hemm brinngenn onn To rihhtenn þeȝȝre dede. c 1275 Pass. Our Lord 544 in O.E. Misc. 52 Iesus crist þet..com in-to þis myddenerd sunfulle men to ryhte. c 1315 Shoreham vi. 11 Þou hast y-ryȝt þat was amys, Y-wonne þat was y-lore. c 1375 Cursor M. 26779 (Fairf.), To þe prest þai make a hiȝt þaire synne for-sake, þaire life to riȝt. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 434/1 Ry(g)hteyn, or make ryghte, rectifico. |
10. To bring into accordance with truth; to correct or render exact (accounts, etc.); to set right or inform (a person) correctly. Also with
up.
| 1027–34 Sec. Laws Cnut ix. (Lieberman) 314 Ᵹemeta and ᵹewihta rihte man ᵹeorne. c 1400 Destr. Troy 69 The whiche bokes..A Romayn ouerraght & right hom hym-seluyn. 1578 J. Jones Preserv. Bodie & Soule i. xxxvii. 77 Prudence righteth vnderstanding, Fortitude Courage. a 1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) 39 Augustine..might heere haue righted you up, if you had not willingly closed your eyes. 1677 Cary Chron. ii. ii. §3. xiv. 251 The true reading of Josephus as to these Numbers, righted by D. Vossius. 1690 W. Walker Idiomat. Ang.-Lat. 5 He said he was righting his accounts. 1706 Farquhar Recruiting Officer v. vii, 'Tis time to right all mistakes. 1863 W. Phillips Speeches vi. 151 Endeavor to right the public mind. |
11. To set in order, to adjust, to set or put right. Now somewhat
rare.
| a 1100 Gerefa in Anglia IX. 262 A he mæiᵹ findan hwæt he mæiᵹ on byriᵹ betan,..oððe hus godian, rihtan, & weoxian. c 1205 Lay. 25732 Heo lihten of heore steden, and rihten heore iweden. Ibid. 30922 Heo rihten heore loues and up droȝen seiles. c 1290 St. Edmund 45 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 298 Huy benden heore bouwene and stoden a-feor, and heore Arewene riȝten. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 12055 Þer myghte men se þe mariners..Ropes to righte, lynes to leye. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 262 Hire clothes with hire hand sche rihte. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483) iii. i. 49 Somme blewe the fyre, somme with yron forkes ryghted the brondes. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xvi. 60 Thenne they amended their harneys and ryghted theire sheldes and tooke newe sperys [etc.]. 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits (1616) 113 The Schollers who haue their bookes well righted, and their Chamber well dressed, and cleane kept. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. (1614) 5/2 The kings of England..sate in person in the seate of justice to right the greater affayres of their subjects. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §275 After righting all matters to our satisfaction. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 140 These ridges are also looked over and righted with the mattock. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting 365 An excellent omelette for breakfast..has already righted me considerably. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 416 Much in the same way the other systems are righted. |
† b. To cure of distortion.
Obs. rare.
| c 1205 Lay. 19502 Sa me scal lacnien his leomes..and his ban rihten mid bitele stelen. c 1330 Assump. Virg. 748 (BM. MS.), Ihesu, þorw his mochil myȝt, Here feet and handes gan to ryȝt. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xl. (Ninian) 1308 Mystrowand he wald gif me mycht þi lath lymmys for to rycht. |
c. To mend or do
up, to clear or clean
up, to set
up again. Now
dial. and
U.S.| a 1656 Ussher Ann. (1658) 391 Having there new wrighted up such ships of his as had been any wayes bruised in the fight, he put over from thence to Phocaea. 1702 in G. Sheldon Hist. Deerfield, Mass. (1895) I. 283 That ye Town fort shall forthwith be Righted vp Voted affirmatively. 1824 Mrs. Sherwood Waste Not i. 10 There is a kitchen maid wanted, just to wash dishes, and right up the kitchen after the cook. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 78 After righting up an old door that had fallen from one hinge, and setting a rail against it to keep it in its place, we returned to the house. |
12. refl. To return to a proper or normal condition. (
Cf. 6 d.)
| 1833 H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. viii. 159 Convertibility ensures the ultimate balance of the currency,—provides that it shall right itself from time to time. 1838 De Quincey Lamb Wks. 1859 IX. 160 Slowly all things right themselves. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. xlix. 51 Had he not resolved to go, things might even yet have righted themselves. |
▪ V. right, adv. (
raɪt)
Forms: 1
rehte, 1–3
rihte, 1–5
riht (3
rihht, 4
rith, 4–5
rit), 5–6
rich(e, 5–
Sc. richt; 3–5
riȝt (3
rigt, 4
riȝth, 5
reȝt), 4–5
riȝte, 5–6
righte, 3–
right (5
reght, 9
dial. reet); 1
ryhte, 4–5
ryht, 5
ryth(e, 5–6
Sc. rycht; 4–5
ryȝt (5
-te), 5
rygth,
rygh, 5–6
ryghte (5
ryte), 4–6
ryght (6
ryt).
[OE. rehte, riht(e, ryhte, = OFris. riuchte (mod.Fris. rjucht), MDu. recht(e, richte (Du. recht, † regt), OS. rehto, reht (MLG. rechte, recht), OHG. rehto, rechto (G. recht), ON. rétt (Norw. rett, Da. ret, Sw. rätt), f. reht, riht right a.] I. 1. a. Of motion or position: Straight; in a direct course or line. In later use chiefly with preps. or advbs., as
right forth,
right forward,
right on(ward),
right from,
right to, etc.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xi. 64 Stæppað ryhte; ne haltiᵹeað leng. a 1000 Boeth. Met. v. 14 Swa oft æspringe ut awealleð of clife harum.., & ᵹereclice rihte floweð. c 1205 Lay. 1395 Heo ferden from Spaine riht toward Brutaine. Ibid. 27345 Forð he wolde riden from Lengres to Auste: swa læi his weie rihte. a 1300 Cursor M. 12957 He..tok his flight To tun o ierusalem ful right. 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 82 And thai that mycht eschap, perfay, Richt till ane vattir held thair vay. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) iv. 29 Men myghte go more right to that havene. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 21 Lede us þederward, as ryght as a lyne, Seynt Myghel! To þat heuenly kyngdome. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1592 Lede hyr to þe prynssys chambyr ryth. 1530 Palsgr. 827/1 Ryght forthe, tout droyt auant. 1571 Digges Pantom. i. xiv. E b, Now go right from that staf some space at pleasure. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 51, I thought nothing could shoot righter at the marke of my desires. 1611 Bible Prov. iv. 25 Let thine eyes looke right on, and let thine eye lids looke straight before thee. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 29 Holding on right forth, by sunne-set he reached to the villages. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 831 Hee on his impious Foes right onward drove. 1716 B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1865) I. 159 The Captain ordered one man to..show himself. Upon which the Indian ran right to him. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. vi. 345 We had a constant gale blowing right upon our stern. c 1800 Foster in Life & Corr. (1846) I. 170 He is like an African buffalo—sees rightforward. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxiv, It was left to me, therefore, to do honour..to his tea, right from China. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 236 Then the Mountjoy took the lead, and went right at the boom. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. i. ii, She would be put into the ladies' compartment and go right on. 1884 Harper's Mag. Dec. 87/1, I'm going right home now. |
b. In the proper course.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 15720 He sailed al day, & on þe nyght, Vmwhile boþe wrong & ryght, Til he com in-til an ilde. 13.. Cursor M. 25681 (Gött.), Leuedi.., þu lede þaim right þar þai ga wrang. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 497/131 Þou schalt..þi weyes wende þe Rihtore, Þorwh him þat mihtes may. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 45 To leide vs in his Law full richt. 1611 Bible Ecclus. xlix. 9 He..directed them that went right. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. (1858) 235 Compel him to go a little righter. |
c. right up, straight up, upright. Now
dial.| c 1440 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 434 Dresse hit forthe, and almondes or paynes fryed, and styk hom right up therin. 1552 Huloet s.v. Bowghe, Bowghes of trees or bushes whych do grow streight out, but not ryght vp. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 114 b, Rhamnus..hath twigges that grow right vp. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 37 Right your Helme, that is, to keepe it in the midships, or right vp. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Right on end, Right up, upright. |
2. a. In a straight or direct course leading quite up
to a place, person, or thing; hence, all the way
to,
into,
round,
through, etc.; also with advbs. as
down,
along (also in sense ‘all along’ (chiefly
U.S.)),
in,
back.
| a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 656, Ðas is se ᵹife fram Medeshamstede to Norðburh..& swa æl se feon riht to Esendic. c 1200 Ormin 6623 Þa kingess..Fundenn forrþrihht tatt steorrneleom, Þatt ledde hemm rihht to Criste. a 1300 Cursor M. 3780 In slepe he sagh stand vp a sti Fra his heued right to þe ski. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 738 Thisbe, This wal..Was cloue a two ryght from the cop a-doun. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxiii. 149 Þase desertez laste riȝt to Paradyse terrestre. 1530 Palsgr. 827/1 Ryght downe, tout droyt embas. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 74 All the landis..Fra Forth streikand recht on to Eskis mouth. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) ix. 8 Quhen I behald it rycht till end. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 398 You two this way..right down to Paradise descend. 1758 S. Thompson Diary (1896) 8, I marched up to ye Lake with 10 men, and came back to the Halfway Brook, and right back to ye Lake again. 1766 W. Stork Acc. E. Florida p. xviii, The strong current that constantly runs from the east..right into the gulph of Mexico. 1836 Browning Johannes Agricola in Medit. 2 There's heaven above, and night by night I look right through its gorgeous roof. 1865 Cameron Malayan India 75 The broad verandah which runs right round the house. 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad xlii. 497 We tore right along, over rocks, rubbish, gullies, open fields. 1887 Rider Haggard She 2 The hair grew right down on his forehead. 1899 T. S. Baldock Cromwell 202 Goring..pushed a cavalry raid right up to Farnham. 1965 Listener 21 Oct. 608/1 Is the American Government prepared to take up this kind of initiative..? Harriman. Yes, we have been doing that right along. |
b. Quite or completely
off,
out,
round, etc.
| c 1400 Sege Melayne 329 At þ⊇ erthe he smate righte of his hede. 1665 Pepys Diary 4 Dec., The King..hath justified my Lord Sandwich to the highest degree, and is right in his favour to the uttermost. 1877 Spurgeon Serm. XXIII. 8 This looks to me like taking the door right off the hinges. 1894 H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 115 We will, Captain, blot them right out. 1894 Idler Sept. 116 He's turned right round, and he's staring at her like anything. |
3. a. Immediately
after some event.
| c 1200 Ormin 2799 Rihht affterr þatt tin greting word Wass cumenn i min ære. 1597 Beard Theatre God's Judgem. (1612) 496 Hieronymus..began right after the death of his father Hiero..to shew forth his arrogancie. |
| 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. iii, Come in,—said he,—come in, right after breakfast. |
b. † right forth, straightway, at once (
obs.) So
right off,
right away, immediately, without delay. Originally
U.S.| (a) 1440 Sc. Acts, Jas. II (1814) II. 55 Oure..lord will..gerr deliuer þe Castel of kildrummy to þe said lord of Erskyne Richt furthe in al gudely haste. c 1500 Melusine 275, I ryght foorth shall departe to asayll them. |
| (b) 1790 R. Tyler Contrast ii. ii. (1887) 39, I was glad to take to my heels and split home, right off. 1849 Webster Priv. Corr. (1857) II. 339 We will go to that place and shut ourselves up in the office..and do the work right off. 1884 Harper's Mag. Oct. 789/1 He wasn't [sick] long. Had a kind of a fit this noon, and died right off. 1931 [see level v.1 9]. 1952 M. Lowry Let. 11 Jan. (1967) 285 Also, right off, I want to thank yourself..most sincerely for the superlative Christmas present. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 14 Aug. 8/1 Right off, I'm overwhelmed by the vegetables inside: mounds of crimson, vine-ripened tomatoes [etc.]. |
| (c) 1818 H. B. Fearon Sk. Amer. 5, I have been slick in going to the stand right away. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes ii, I saw now that ‘Right away’ and ‘Directly’ were one and the same thing. 1897 ‘Mark Twain’ More Tramps Abroad lxxi, A round man cannot be expected to fit a square hole right away. He must have time to modify his shape. 1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman iv. 151 Violet. Go away until I have finished speaking to your father. Hector. No, Violet: I mean to have this thing out, right away. 1909 R. E. Knowles Attic Guest ix. 121, I told him one day how Charlie was still urging me to consent that it should be soon, right away soon. 1942 Short Guide Gt. Brit. (U.S. War Dept.) 5 You will find out right away that England is a small country. 1957 Practical Wireless XXXIII. 727/2 (Advt.), Post this off right away. 1978 D. Quinn Fear of God 121 ‘It's very important—see what you can turn up.’ ‘Right away,’ Helen said. |
c. orig. U.S. Straight (with temporal connotation).
| 1849 Longfellow Kavanagh xxix, If you don't go right about your business, I will come down. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxii, I'll go right in the house, for paper and ink. 1901 Munsey's Mag. XXIV. 800/1 Yes, I'll be right down. 1955 ‘J. Christopher’ Year of Comet iii. 108 Find yourself a drink. I'll be right up. 1969 R. Williams in D. Knight 100 Yrs. Sci. Fiction 286 A few minutes later, however, Pete Martens in Appliances called me up... ‘Thank you, Pete,’ I said. ‘I'll be right down.’ 1972 ‘T. Coe’ Don't lie to Me vii. 70 ‘We're all set, Dan.’ He looked at her in surprise, as though he'd never seen her before, and then said, ‘Fine, be right with you.’ |
4. right out,
= outright adv. 3, 4; also
dial., completely.
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 101 Her waspish headed sonne..Swears he will shoote no more, but play with Sparrows, And be a Boy right out. 1622 S. Ward Woe to Drunkards (1627) 18, I haue seene one slaine right out with the timber he stole halfe an houre before. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. People Eng. Wks. 1738 I. 493 The house..they fired about his ears, and at last killed him right-out. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Right-Out, completely, throughout. |
II. 5. Precisely, exactly, just, quite, altogether, to the full. Now
dial. or
arch. In
ME. poetry sometimes a mere rime-tag.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. ii. iv. 74 Seo burᵹ..is swiþe ryhte feowerscyte. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) cxxxviii. 6 Ᵹif ic on helle ᵹedo hwyrft æniᵹne, þu me æt-byst efne rihte. c 1200 Ormin 414 Eȝȝþerr heore ȝede swa Rihht affterr Godess lare. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2951 Ðis wreche, in al egypte riȝt, Lestede fulle seuene niȝt. 13.. K. Alis. 2998 (Bodl. MS), It was riȝth after þe tenure Þat first spaak þe Emperoure. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 804, I wol my self goodly with yow ryde Right at myn owene cost. c 1410 Hoccleve Mother of God 125 Vn-to oon of yow seide he Right in this wyse. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Defin., Other their corners bee all sharpe,..other ij. sharpe and one right square. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. (Q.) v. 67 My wife hath spoyld her, She takes right after her. 1633 Heywood Eng. Trav. iii. i, To talk of borrowing, lending, and of use! The usurer's language right. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4118/4 Pure Venice-Treacle, in Tin Pots, right as it came over. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., He's not right sharp. |
6. a. Qualifying adverbs (or
adv. phrases) of time,
esp. right now (now also in sense ‘immediately’, ‘without delay’ (chiefly
U.S.)),
† right then or
† right tho,
† right anon. Now
arch.| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. vii. §2 Swylce hi wæron rihte ða hi ðe mæst ᵹeolectan, swilce hi nu sindon. c 1200 Ormin 11046 Rihht o þatt daȝȝ uppo þe ȝer Þatt twellfte daȝȝ iss nemmnedd. a 1225 Ancr. R. 54 Heo þet was riht þo imaked mid Godes honden. a 1300 Cursor M. 3547 For hunger loo i dei right now. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paul) 298 Mony ane Richt þane þe cristine treutht has tane. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 550 And right anon he chaunged his array. a 1400–50 Alexander 431 Riȝt in þe dawyng of day a diuinour he callis. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 10729 Quod rudentendement ryht tho. 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. xix. 443 Remembre ye of the shame ye dyd to me ryght now. 1535 Coverdale John ix. 27 He answered them I tolde you right now. 1594 O. B. Quest. Profit. Concernings 9 b, Wit, arte, and counsell, which you spake of right now. 1624 Bedell Lett. xi. 139 Haue you forgotten what you said right now? 1640 Fuller Joseph's Coat (1867) 85 Right at this time there raged and reigned in the church of Corinth an epidemical disease. 1897 Lord E. Hamilton Outlaws 130, I can put my hand on the quean right now. 1932 Kipling Limits & Renewals 84 Mackworth: ‘Swear you will. At once.’ Haylock: ‘I swear I will. Right now.’ Me (and it's not my fault that I love English): ‘None of your Transatlantic slang here. Say {oqq}at once{cqq}.’ 1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway iv. 82 He's not the only passenger that's in a nervous state right now. 1953 Manch. Guardian Weekly 19 Mar. 7 There never was a time when respect for law and legal process was more important to our people than right now. 1957 New Yorker 2 Nov. 68/3 Explaining that she had to go back to the hotel herself right then to get dressed..she returned to the car. 1959 C. Fremlin Uncle Paul iii. 30 I'll find her a hotel. Right now. 1959 Listener 19 Nov. 895/1, I hardly think readers will be reaching it off the shelves a quarter of a century hence as eagerly as, right now, I am reaching for The Small Years. 1975 R. L. Simon Wild Turkey (1976) i. 2 We'd better start right now. |
† b. Placed after the
adv. or phrase,
esp. now right.
Obs.| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 53 Woenæs ðu þæt..fader min [ne mæᵹe] sella me nu reht mæ ðon tuelf herᵹas engla. 971 Blickl. Hom. 225 He..sæᵹde, þæt hit ða rihte wære þæt he of ðisse worlde sceolde. c 1000 ælfric Exod. ix. 19 Send nu rihte and ᵹegadera ealle þine nytenu. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7972 Þis tueye breþeren gode frend were þo riȝt. Ibid. 8910 Þis was endleue hondred ȝer, & in þe niþe ȝer riȝt. c 1375 Cursor M. 19651 (Fairf.), Noȝt he ete þre daies riȝt. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 2772 For ioy of a sweuene þat y haue mette now ryȝt. |
7. a. With preps. or advbs. of place, as
right at,
right in,
right on, etc.
right on! used as an expression of enthusiastic agreement, approval, or encouragement; also as
attrib. phr.:
U.S. slang. (
freq. in Black English).
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. i. 16 Ryhte be eastan him sindon Bæme. c 1200 Ormin 6554 Rihht i þe land off Ȝerrsalæm. a 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1604 He lay.., A ston under hise heued riȝt. c 1300 Havelok 2495 Sket cam a ladde with a knif, And bigan rith at þe to For to ritte. c 1400 Rom. Rose 3076 Right nygh the botoun pullede he A leef al grene. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 27 Into the lond let synke A reed right by. 1481 Caxton Godfr. clxxiii. 256 In theyr comyng on they toke the barbycannes that were right ayenst them. 1535 Coverdale Josh. viii. 14 He made haist..to mete Israel..euen righte before the felde. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. i. (Arb.) 150 Vpon a Ladies lips, or right in the center of her cheekes. 1632 Milton L'Allegro 59 Right against the Eastern gate, Wher the great Sun begins his state. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 18 The Wind is right in our teeth. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 84 He was set right against me. 1775 Romans Hist. Florida App. 28 Right abreast of this spot..is a very fine anchorage. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague ii. iii. 55 Sitting..Right o'er St. Paul's Cathedral. 1891 C. E. Norton Dante's Hell xxviii. 156 When it was right at the foot of the bridge, it lifted its arm high. 1925 in Odum & Johnson Negro & his Songs vii. 202 Railroad Bill was a mighty sport, Shot all buttons off high sheriff's coat Den hollered, ‘Right on, Desperado Bill!’ 1968 B. Seale in Ramparts 20 Oct. 32/1, I said, ‘Right on.’ I was right behind him. This brother..knew what to do, when to do and how to do it. 1970 New Yorker 20 June 50/2 Miss Williams said, ‘You have not adequately answered those questions,’ and sat down, to cheers, whistles, and a cry of ‘Right on!’—conceivably the first time the chairman had ever heard the phrase live. 1970 Melody Maker 12 Sept. 34 ‘Only in a capitalist society could art be turned to profit. ‘Right on.’ 1970 Time 19 Oct. 45 In Boston, Homans is known as a ‘right-on lawyer’—he defends blacks, war protesters and poor people. 1971 J. Killens in A. Chapman New Black Voices (1972) 59 But now, on with the story. And Black Blessings to you all. Right on. 1972 Listener 27 Jan. 123/2 A whole albumful of ‘right on’ soul music. 1973 Black World May 32/2 If Marx were alive he could see his way clear to say to this observation, ‘Right on, Brother!’ 1974 K. Millett Flying ii. 198 Right on, Vita, so you must have waged your woman's war for years. 1976 Spare Rib Oct. 32/1, I had just read Sappho Was a Right-On Woman by Sidney Abbott and Barbara Love. 1979 Daily Tel. 3 Sept. 4/1 A correspondent remarked: ‘You don't portray any crisis feeling.’ The President replied: ‘Right on.’ |
b. With
here,
there. Now chiefly
U.S. Cf. here-right and there-right.
| c 1290 Beket 126 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 110 I-porueid it was..þat heo scholde i-cristned beo riȝt þare. a 1300 Cursor M. 6542 Þe tables þat in hand he bare To pees he þam brak right þar. 1399 Rolls of Parlt. III. 424/1 On Moneday..ryght here in this Chaumbre..ȝe renounsed and cessed of the State of Kyng. c 1450 Merlin xiv. 202 Right here, seith the frensch booke, that [etc.]. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 442 b/2 Ryght there he retourneth hymself and salueth the peple. 1530 Palsgr. 822/2 Ryght there, droyctement la. |
| 1866 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. ii. Introd., ‘Right here,’ a favorite phrase with our orators and with a certain class of our editors. 1893 Fuller Lit. Courtship x. 98, I may as well say, right here, that I, for my part, had a rousing good time. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 2 Jan. 3/1, ‘I got on the trail right there,’ pursued Mr. Stanley, with a momentary relapse into American idiom. 1948 Auden Age of Anxiety v. 116 He'll be right there With His Eye upon me. |
8. Qualifying
as or
so (
† also) in various constructions. Now
arch.| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 67 He fondede god solf mid his wrenche..and his apostles riht al swa. c 1200 Ormin 1188 Rihht all swa summ þe shep onfoþ Meocliȝ, þatt mann itt clippeþþ. a 1300 Sarmun xli. in E.E.P. (1862) 5 Riȝt as he com he sal wend in wo and pine and pouerte. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1696 Als þe body..Es ded when þe saule es passed out, Þe saule of man es ded ryght swa, When God es departed þarefra. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1555 Hypsipyle, Ryght as him-selfe now dothe, ryght so did he. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) iv. xxix. (1859) 62 Euery good kynge is..knowen therby, ryght as a man is knowen by his visage. 1497 Bp. Alcock Mons Perfect. A iij, Ryght as y⊇ erthe can brynge forth no fruyte without y⊇ dewe of heuen..Right so without the grace of God [etc.]. 1535 Coverdale 1 Kings vi. 35 So made he also..palme trees and floures, right as it was appoynted. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xix. (Arb.) 54 Right so no kinde of argument..doth better perswade..then example. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 401 Right so is it (sayth he) in the heart of a man the heate boyleth vp the bloud. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts, N.T. 594 Right so as God threatened to deale with us according to our doings, even so hath he done. 1648 Hexham ii, Recht of het soo ware, right as if it were so. 1871 Rossetti Staff & Scrip ix, Right so, he knew that he saw weep Each night through every dream The Queen's own face. |
9. With intensive force (
cf. full adv. 1): Very. Now
arch. in formal contexts.
a. With adverbs.
| c 1200 Ormin 6281 Þuss mihht tu ledenn her þatt lif Rihht wel, wiþþ Godess hellpe. 1375 Barbour Bruce xv. 82 Schir Iohne Steward..Wes voundit throu the body thair With a sper that richt scharply schair. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles Prol. 16 Thus tales me troblid..And amarride my mynde rith moche. c 1450 Cursor M. 17413 (Laud), Ye diddyn hym vnder lok and sele That he awey shuld not stele But ye hym myssid right sone. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 2 He trusted I shuld lyke it right wele. 1503 Hawes Examp. Virt. i. xvii, Though thou ryght hy do oft assende. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. x. 7 A gentle Squyre..Right cleanly clad in comely sad attyre. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 165, I know right well how tedious I haue beene in the description of this citie. 1663 Butler Hud. i. ii. 953 To him the Squire right nimbly run. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 662 The simple clerk..did rear right merrily, two staves. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. iv, The portrait of him she loved right dearly. a 1862 Thoreau Yankee in Canada v. (1866) 93, I should like right well to make a longer excursion on foot. 1885 Mag. Art Sept. 452/1 They conquered it right royally. 1891 W. B. Yeats Let. Apr. (1954) 167 The ‘proofs’ of the Blake book are coming in... The illustrations look right well. 1954 Manch. Guardian Weekly 5 Aug. 12/3 Sometimes..there is a fight. If the incident takes place in a public-house it is often worse. ‘It's broken bottles right fast; and, brother, I get out.’ 1981 P. Mallory Killing Matter ix. 97 Cale was doing right well for himself. |
b. With adjectives. Now chiefly
U.S. right smart: see
smart a. 7 b.
| c 1200 Ormin 5563 Þe sexte ȝife off Haliȝ Gast Iss an rihht god reowwsunge. Ibid. 7133 An child..Þatt shall ben þiss Judisskenn king All þurrh rihht aþell kinde. 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 84 Ane vattir.. That..wes rycht styth, bath deip & wyde. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 288 A Clerk ther was..And he nas nat right fat. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 5 Take hem and presse hem on a fayre bord, an hew hem ryght smal. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ii. ii. 78, I am ryght wrothe for your departyng. Ibid., Ye shal be ryght welcome to..my barons. 1521 Warham in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. I. 239, I doubt not but it is to your good Grace right pensiful hearing. 1589 ? Lyly Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 24 At his table, where he sate..right like a superintendant. 1611 B. Jonson Catiline ii. i, I should be right sorry To have the means so to be venged on you. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 296 Yet is their surname right ancient in the place. 1704 Swift Mech. Operat. Spir. Misc. (1711) 289 Those illustrious and right eloquent Pen-men, the Modern Travellers. 1765 Gray Shaks. 3 Willy begs, once a right proper man. 1800 Coleridge Lett. (1895) 336, I was right glad..to see your writing again. 1861 FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 276 He is a right good little Fellow, I do believe. 1869 ‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. 134, I did not feel right comfortable for some time afterward. 1877 W. Lytteil Landmarks iii. viii. 142 And right interesting it is to observe [etc.]. 1881 ‘Mark Twain’ Prince & Pauper iii. 40 They were waved aside with a right royal gesture. 1884 C. H. Smith Bill Arp's Scrap Bk. vi. 75 Go get me a switch, right straight. 1936 M. Mitchell Gone with Wind xlii. 755 Miz Wilkes is right sensible, for a woman. 1952 Manch. Guardian Weekly 20 Mar. 4/3 Yes, sir, as far as this state's concerned, he looks right nice where he is. 1977 Washington Post 7 Sept. c5/2 It turned out that some of them were women who would like to be in my place—who hate me and would like to see me gone. I slipped into a right unpopular place when I married George Wallace. |
c. In titles or forms of address. (See also
honourable,
reverend,
worshipful.)
| c 1390 Rec. Coldingham Priory (Surtees) 65 Richt honorabylle fadyr in Crist, God have yhow in kepynge. 1420 Waterton in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. I. 6 Ryght excellent hegh and ryght myghty Prynce. c 1489 Caxton Blanchardyn iv. 20 O my rightbeloued sonn,..who moued you to leue me, and to parte soo? 1512 Helyas in Thoms Prose Rom. (1858) III. 148 Right noble chylde and my deare frende. 1565 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 400 The rycht excellent, rycht heich and illustir Princessis. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 84 He is most in the company of the right noble Claudio. 1640 H. Glapthorne Wit in Constable i, And pray right witty, and right honor'd sir, What may your businesse seeme to be i th' city? 1674 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 197 Right Trusty and Right Welbeloved Cousin and Councellour, Wee greet you well. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. i, Noble and right thirsty lords. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxx, Will you indeed prefer me to your right royal consort's service? |
† 10. With negatives: At all; whatever.
Obs.| c 1200 Ormin 680 Niss he rihht nohht forrfæredd. Ibid. 18961 Acc hemm ne cumeþþ rihht na god. a 1300 Cursor M. 28794 Vr lauerd..receues he right nan Almus þat o wrang es tan. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1325 Dido, But al this thing auayleth hire ryght nought. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6223 Ryght noȝt þan he felde. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop ii. xi, Thow shalt haue ryght nought of me. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xlv. 11 To acount whatsoever we set most store by, to be but as dung or as rightnought. |
† 11. With
a. Indeed, assuredly.
Obs.| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) iii. 8 Constantinople is riȝt a faire citee. c 1450 Merlin 141 Þat is right a worthi man. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour a iij, It is moche fayre and ryght a noble thyng for to see..thauncient hystoryes. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxxxv. 330 The prince graunted hym with ryght a good wyll his requeast. Ibid. ccclxxiv. 619 He accorded to that his men hadde done with right an yuell wyll. |
III. 12. a. In accordance with justice or righteousness; righteously, uprightly; in harmony with the moral standard of actions.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §12 Se scippend..rehte ᵹesceop eall þæt he ᵹesceop. 971 Blickl. Hom. 43 He him symle rihte deme, ᵹif he wille sylf Godes domas ᵹedeᵹan. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) cxxxix. 13 Scylan eard niman.., þa mid ræde her rihte lifiᵹeað. a 1200 Moral Ode 109 Ne mei him na Mon alsa wel demen ne alswa rihte. |
| 1611 Bible Ps. ix. 4 Thou satest in the throne iudging right. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 155 Father, who art Judge Of all things made, and judgest onely right. 1736 Butler Anal. ii. viii, They act right or wrong. 1746 Chesterfield Lett. cxii. (1792) I. 303, I am convinced that you will act right. |
† b. Rightly; by right.
Obs.| 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 386 The Erl of Murray bure that surname ryght. |
13. a. In a proper or fitting manner; in the required or necessary way; properly; duly, aright.
| Beowulf 1696 Swa wæs..þurh runstafas rihte ᵹemearcod..& ᵹesæd hwam þæt sweord ᵹeworht..wære. c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxvi. §2 Ᵹenoh ryhte þu spyrast; swa hit is swa þu seᵹst. a 1000 Battle of Maldon 29 (Gr.), Byrhtnoð..bæd þæt [hie] hyra randan rihte heoldon. c 1200 Ormin 5505 All hu mann birrþ follȝhenn itt Forr Drihhtin rihht to þeowwtenn. c 1230 Hali Meid. 5 Hwil ha riht luued him wið soðe bileaue. c 1300 Harrow. Hell 24 Moyses þe holy whyt, Þe heuede þe lawe to ȝeme ryht. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. vii. 30 Thou rew ant red me ryht. a 1350 St. Thomas 211 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 23 He bad hym reuerence right A maumet þat þai cald ‘god of light’. 1535 Coverdale Judges xii. 6 They bad him saye: Schiboleth, & he sayde: Siboleth, & coulde not speake it righte. 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 139 Ile smoake your skin-coat and I catch you right. 1642 H. More Song of Soul iii. iii. xlviii, Hence phancie, sight, And memory in age do not their functions right. a 1684 Roscommon Ess. on Verse 5 With strict Discipline instructed right. 1693 Locke Educ. §160 The first thing should be taught him is to hold his Pen right. 1705 tr. Bosman's Guinea 419 Were not these Villains right served? 1764 Goldsm. Hist. Eng. in Lett. (1772) I. 278 You counsel right, my friend. 1851 Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Wind. ii, A people, to speak right, Must speak as soft as courtiers. |
b. In due or proper order.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 12060 Roþeres, helmes, right for to stande. a 1586 Sidney Ps. xix. 2 Day unto day, doth it display,..And night to night succeeding right. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. iv. 37 When once our grace we haue forgot Nothing goes right. 1876 Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 253 Everything is going on right there, and you have no occasion to be anxious about them. |
c. In
colloq. phrases
all right,
right enough. Now
usu. in weakened senses, ‘indeed’, ‘certainly’.
| 1844 FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 124, I got your letter all right. 1885 Anstey Tinted Venus 7 You'll enjoy yourself, Bella, right enough when you get there. 1911 Maclean's Mag. Mar. 96/2 He's a high flier, all right. 1915 J. Buchan 39 Steps iv. 81 It was no question of preventing a war. That was coming, as sure as Christmas... Karolides was going to be the occasion. He was booked all right, and was to hand in his checks on June 14th. 1930 J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement v. 249 Yes, I saw you all right. You looked very annoyed, too. 1933 M. Lowry Ultramarine vi. 245 Boy, but it was hot all right. 1943 Illustr. London News 9 Jan. 30/1 Coffee was being burnt in Brazil because there were not enough purchasers for it in Europe. But this was solely because the people of Europe lacked the currency with which to buy it. They wanted the coffee all right. 1944 B. Hutchison Hollow Men viii. 107 I'm afraid, all right. |
14. In accordance with facts or the truth of the case; accurately, correctly, exactly.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke vii. 43 He cuoeð him, ‘Rehte ðu doemdest’. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke x. 28 Þa cwæð he, ‘Rihte þu andswarodest’. c 1200 Ormin 13811 Natanaæl,..Þatt I þe sahh unnderr fictre, Þu cnawesst rihht & trowwesst. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1079 Ah beo nu soð cnawes, ȝef ich riht segge. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 372 And men ryȝt lokede, Þer is more pryue pride in prechours hertes Þan [etc.]. c 1450 Holland Howlat 162 A college of cardinalis come syne in a lyng, That war Crannis of kynd, gif I richt compt. 1549 Ridley in Liber Cant. (1855) 245 Alexander, if I do right remember the history. 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 32 The lawyer seeketh to make men good,.. or to say righter,..that their euill hurt not others. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. viii. §10 A man, accustom'd to..regular Experiments,..shall be able to..guess righter at their..Properties. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 22 The lines, tho' touch'd but faintly, are drawn right. 1763 Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury (1870) I. 103 The affair of Wilkes and Dun is related right in the papers. 1857 Kingsley Misc. (1859) II. 320 It was on the Tuesday or Wednesday after, if I recollect right. 1878 Hardy Ret. Native vi. iii, Yes, you guess right. It is going to be after all. |
| phr. 1642 J. Eaton Honey-c. Free Justif. 202 Reason agrees with them no righter than a Rammes horne. |
15. a. On or towards the right side (
of). See also
right and left.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 21639 Ouer and vnder, right and left, In þis compas godd all has left. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) p. xxix/2 As we stande ryght of yat poynt. a 1796 Burns Sic a Wife as Willie had iii, She's twisted right, she's twisted left. 1816 ‘Quiz’ Grand Master ii. 50 ‘'Tention eyes right!’ The serjeant calls with all his might. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xii, As he spoke thus, he looked neither right nor left. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1875) III. 146 The force of all the lands right of the Seine gathered under the banners of Guy and Odo. |
b. right, left and centre: everywhere; in all directions.
| 1956 H. & M. Williams Plaintiff in Pretty Hat ii. 61 Pontificating..and expressing your damned opinions and judgements right, left and centre as if you're Solomon in all his glory? 1958 Times 19 Sept. 6/7 Mr. Eric Longsworth..suggested that the duty of the committee should be to take action whenever a theatre was threatened, lobbying ‘right, left, and centre’ local and national bodies. 1963 [see bundobust]. 1967 ‘G. North’ Sgt. Cluff & Day of Reckoning x. 91 Do any of us want Barker asking folk questions, right, left, and centre? 1970 J. Porter Rather Common sort of Crime x. 115 A boy like Rodney..couldn't possibly be earning enough money to go around buying whisky right, left and centre? 1977 Times 25 Jan. 5/7 People are doing it [sc. committing suicide] right, left and centre all the time. There is nothing to it nowadays. |
IV. Comb. 16. a. With
pa. pples., as
right-born,
right-bred,
right-framed,
right-made,
right-shapen, etc. Also in parasynthetic combs., as
right-believed,
right-headed,
right-hearted,
right-justified (sense 15).
| 971 Blickling Hom. 167 Eal rihtᵹelyfed folc sceal ᵹefeon. c 1200 Ormin 1645 All birrþ itt offredd ben wiþþ skill..Off rihhtbiȝetenn ahhte. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 2377 Lauerd, leome & lif of alle riht bileafde. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. ix. (Tollemache MS.), This ryuer..departeþ þe contrey of ryȝt-bileuid men fro þe contrey of misbileuid men. 1526 Tindale Prol. Ep. Romans, That the ryghte shapen workes abyde not behynd, but accompanye fayth. 1553 in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1822) III. i. 76 If ye saw them [the Bishops]..ye would say, they were the Pope's right-shapen sons. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xxxix. 5 Within a while after hee will intermedle holy and right framed prayers. 1659 Thorndike Wks. (1846) II. 653 The right born, debasing..his birth, shall slide down. 1680 Allen Peace & Unity Pref. p. xxxiii, It does agree with every right made publick prayer whatsoever. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 18 What Discouragement gives not this to right-bred Tars from entering Volunteers? 1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. (1809) 69 Such a right-headed Reverend Gentleman. 1829 Scott Jrnl. 25 Apr., I assured him that a man who had been wrong in the head all his life would scarce become right-headed after death. 1848 J. R. Lowell Fable for Critics 41 All honour and praise to the right-hearted bard Who was true to The Voice when such service was hard. 1891 Atkinson Last of Giant-killers 170 Some even say that a right-shaped twig of any tree will do just as well. 1908 M. & J. Findlater Crossriggs xlvii. 346 Alex gave it the reverent attention that details of the kind will always command from right-hearted people. 1970 Computers & Humanities IV. 167 References were to be right-justified. |
b. With
pr. pples., as
right-acting,
right-aiming,
right-believing,
right-feeling,
right-judging,
right-meaning,
right-seeing, etc.;
right-reading, such as can be read without first being reversed by a mirror.
| 971 Blickling Hom. 185 On eallum rihtᵹelyfendum on me. c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) i, The hare that rennyth with right stondyng eers is but litell aferde. 1483 Cath. Angl. 308/2 Ryghte trowande, ortodoxus. 1565 T. Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. 131 Whome we following in good,..godly, and rightbeleuing maner [etc.]. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. x. 59 They which haue sought him with a true and rightmeaning heart. 1611 Bible Wisd. v. 21 Then shal the right-aiming thunder bolts goe abroad. 1813 Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 284 In Cornwall and Devonshire, and in the mines of Northumberland and Durham, the principal metallic veins range nearly east and west. In the former counties they are called lodes, in the latter right running veins. 1855 Bagehot Coll. Wks. (1965) I. 284 A particularly rational and right-seeing man. 1868 Mill Let. 9 June (1910) II. 113 The detestation of the right-judging among his fellow-creatures. 1869 Mill Subj. Women iv. 149 Among right-feeling and well-bred people, the inequality is kept as much as possible out of sight. 1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life on Mississippi 432 Any right-feeling reptile would do that. 1885 C. J. Lyall Arab. Poet. 90 A heart still and stedfast, right-walking, honest. 1955 J. Ashworth Operation & Mech. of Linotype & Intertype II. xxxiii. 329 The film magazine is a holder containing the film and a mechanism for advancing it between lines... Production models will be able to produce either wrong- or right-reading positives as desired. 1967 Karch & Buber Offset Processes iv. 87 Images can be right reading or wrong (as seen in a mirror) reading to suit the process used in offset-lithography. 1973 E. Bullins Theme is Blackness 160 If I was a right-actin' sister I wouldn't go into this, you understand..but you know I ain't right-actin’. |
c. With
vbs., as
right-rule,
right-participate. Now chiefly in
right-justify [back-formation from
right-justified in sense 16 a].
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. liv. 17 Eche vessel that is mad aȝen thee, shal not be riȝt reulid. Ibid., Jer. vii. 5 If ȝee wil euene riȝt reulen ȝoure weies, and ȝoure studies. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 397 Teaching thy wealthy Neighbours..How, When, and Where to right-participate Their streams of Comfort. 1970 Computers & Humanities IV. 169 The point at which the line is to be padded with blanks to right-justify the reference. 1980 Glass & ‘De Nim’ Second Coming 58 He could right justify and multiple column per page and footnote with only a little more work. |
17. With adverbs, forming attributive combs., as
right-away,
right-forward,
right-onward,
right-out.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 62 It is not my intent to runne a right out-race through all the accidents of their reprobation. 1648 Hexham, Een Rechte strate, a Right-out streete. 1794 Coleridge Lett. (1895) I. 114 The well-disciplined phalanx of right-onward feelings. 1826 Scott Jrnl. 1 Mar., The work of an uncompromising right-forward Scot of the old school. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. iii. xv, With his wonted, right-away activity. 1877 Daily News 9 Oct. 5/3 The anticipation of a good honest right-away race was not disappointed. |