right

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Origin: OE. right, riht, AS. riht; akin to D. regt, OS. & OHG. reht, G. recht, Dan. ret, Sw. rätt, Icel. rettr, Goth. raíhts, L. rectus, p. p. of regere to guide, rule; cf. Skr. ṛju straight, right. √115. Cf. Adroit,Alert, Correct, Dress, Regular, Rector, Recto, Rectum, Regent, Region, Realm, Rich, Royal, Rule.

1. Straight; direct; not crooked; as, a right line. “Right as any line.” Geoffrey Chaucer

2. Upright; erect from a base; having an upright axis; not oblique; as, right ascension; a right pyramid or cone.

3. Conformed to the constitution of man and the will of God, or to justice and equity; not deviating from the true and just; according with truth and duty; just; true.

That which is conformable to the Supreme Rule is absolutely right, and is called right simply without relation to a special end.— Richard Whately

2. Fit; suitable; proper; correct; becoming; as, the right man in the right place; the right way from London to Oxford.

5. Characterized by reality or genuineness; real; actual; not spurious. “His right wife.” Geoffrey Chaucer

In this battle,... the Britons never more plainly manifested themselves to be right barbarians.— John Milton

6. According with truth; passing a true judgment; conforming to fact or intent; not mistaken or wrong; not erroneous; correct; as, this is the right faith.

You are right, Justice, and you weigh this well.— William Shakespeare

If there be no prospect beyond the grave, the inference is... right, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.”— John Locke

7. Most favorable or convenient; fortunate.

The lady has been disappointed on the right side.— The Spectator

8. Of or pertaining to that side of the body in man on which the muscular action is usually stronger than on the other side; — opposed to left when used in reference to a part of the body; as, the right side, hand, arm. Also applied to the corresponding side of the lower animals.

Became the sovereign's favorite, his right hand.— Henry W. Longfellow

☞ In designating the banks of a river, right and left are used always with reference to the position of one who is facing in the direction of the current's flow.

9. Well placed, disposed, or adjusted; orderly; well regulated; correctly done.

10. Designed to be placed or worn outward; as, the right side of a piece of cloth.

At right angles, so as to form a right angle or right angles, as when one line crosses another perpendicularly. — Right and left, in both or all directions. colloquial — Right and left coupling Pipe fitting, a coupling the opposite ends of which are tapped for a right-handed screw and a left-handed screw, respectivelly. — Right angle. (a) The angle formed by one line meeting another perpendicularly, as the angles ABD, DBC. (b) Spherics A spherical angle included between the axes of two great circles whose planes are perpendicular to each other. — Right ascension. See under Ascension. — Right Center Politics, those members belonging to the Center in a legislative assembly who have sympathies with the Right on political questions. See Center, noun, 5. — Right cone, Right cylinder, Right prism, Right pyramid Geometry, a cone, cylinder, prism, or pyramid, the axis of which is perpendicular to the base. — Right line. See under Line. — Right sailing Nautical, sailing on one of the four cardinal points, so as to alter a ship's latitude or its longitude, but not both. Phila. 1881. Hamersly's Naval Encyclopaedia — Right sphere Astron. & Geol., a sphere in such a position that the equator cuts the horizon at right angles; in spherical projections, that position of the sphere in which the primitive plane coincides with the plane of the equator.

☞ Right is used elliptically for it is right, what you say is right, true.

“Right,” cries his lordship.— Alexander Pope

Synonyms: Straight; direct; perpendicular; upright; lawful; rightful; true; correct; just; equitable; proper; suitable; becoming.

1. In a right manner.

2. In a right or straight line; directly; hence; straightway; immediately; next; as, he stood right before me; it went right to the mark; he came right out; he followed right after the guide.

Unto Dian's temple goeth she right.— Geoffrey Chaucer

Let thine eyes look right on.— Prov. iv. 25.

Right across its track there lay, Down in the water, a long reef of gold.— Alfred Tennyson

3. Exactly; just. obsolete or colloquial

Came he right now to sing a raven's note?— William Shakespeare

4. According to the law or will of God; conforming to the standard of truth and justice; righteously; as, to live right; to judge right.

5. According to any rule of art; correctly.

You with strict discipline instructed right.— Wentworth Dillon, Lord Roscommon

6. According to fact or truth; actually; truly; really; correctly; exactly; as, to tell a story right. “Right at mine own cost.” Geoffrey Chaucer

Right as it were a steed of Lumbardye.— Geoffrey Chaucer

His wounds so smarted that he slept right naught.— Edward Fairfax

7. In a great degree; very; wholly; unqualifiedly; extremely; highly; as, right humble; right noble; right valiant. “He was not right fat”. Geoffrey Chaucer

For which I should be right sorry.— John Tyndale

[I] return those duties back as are right fit.— William Shakespeare

☞ In this sense now chiefly prefixed to titles; as, right honorable; right reverend.

Right honorable, a title given in England to peers and peeresses, to the eldest sons and all daughters of such peers as have rank above viscounts, and to all privy councilors; also, to certain civic officers, as the lord mayor of London, of York, and of Dublin.

☞ Right is used in composition with other adverbs, as upright, downright, forthright, etc.

Right along, without cessation; continuously; as, to work right along for several hours. Colloq. U.S. — Right away, or Right off, at once; straightway; without delay. Colloq. U.S. “We will... shut ourselves up in the office and do the work right off.” Daniel Webster

Origin: AS. right. See Right, adjective

1. That which is right or correct. Specifically: (a) The straight course; adherence to duty; obedience to lawful authority, divine or human; freedom from guilt, — the opposite of moral wrong. (b) A true statement; freedom from error of falsehood; adherence to truth or fact.

Seldom your opinions err; Your eyes are always in the right.— Matthew Prior

(c) A just judgment or action; that which is true or proper; justice; uprightness; integrity.

Long love to her has borne the faithful knight, And well deserved, had fortune done him right.— John Dryden

2. That to which one has a just claim. Specifically: (a) That which one has a natural claim to exact.

There are no rights whatever, without corresponding duties.— Samuel T. Coleridge

(b) That which one has a legal or social claim to do or to exact; legal power; authority; as, a sheriff has a right to arrest a criminal. (c) That which justly belongs to one; that which one has a claim to possess or own; the interest or share which anyone has in a piece of property; title; claim; interest; ownership.

Born free, he sought his right.— John Dryden

Hast thou not right to all created things?— John Milton

Men have no right to what is not reasonable.— Edmund Burke

(d) Privilege or immunity granted by authority.

3. The right side; the side opposite to the left.

Led her to the Souldan's right.— Edmund Spenser

4. In some legislative bodies of Europe (as in France), those members collectively who are conservatives or monarchists. See Center, 5.

5. The outward or most finished surface, as of a piece of cloth, a carpet, etc.

At all right, at all points; in all respects. obsolete Geoffrey Chaucer — Bill of rights, a list of rights; a paper containing a declaration of rights, or the declaration itself. See under Bill. — By right, By rights, or By good rights, rightly; properly; correctly.

He should himself use it by right.— Geoffrey Chaucer

I should have been a woman by right.— William Shakespeare

— Divine right, or Divine right of kings, a name given to the patriarchal theory of government, especially to the doctrine that no misconduct and no dispossession can forfeit the right of a monarch or his heirs to the throne, and to the obedience of the people. — To rights. (a) In a direct line; straight. rare John Woodward (b) At once; directly. obsolete or colloquial Jonathan Swift — To set to rights, To put to rights, to put in good order; to adjust; to regulate, as what is out of order. — Writ of right Law, a writ which lay to recover lands in fee simple, unjustly withheld from the true owner. Blackstone, Sir William

Origin: AS. rihtan. See Right, adjective

1. To bring or restore to the proper or natural position; to set upright; to make right or straight (that which has been wrong or crooked); to correct.

2. To do justice to; to relieve from wrong; to restore rights to; to assert or regain the rights of; as, to right the oppressed; to right one's self; also, to vindicate.

So just is God, to right the innocent.— William Shakespeare

All experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.— Thomas Jefferson

To right a vessel Nautical, to restore her to an upright position after careening. — To right the helm Nautical, to place it in line with the keel.

1. To recover the proper or natural condition or position; to become upright.

2. Nautical Hence, to regain an upright position, as a ship or boat, after careening.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

The Devil's Dictionary

By what right, then, do royal rulers rule? Whose is the sanction of their state and pow'r? He surely were as stubborn as a mule Who, God unwilling, could maintain an hour His uninvited session on the throne, or air His pride securely in the Presidential chair.

Whatever is is so by Right Divine; Whate'er occurs, God wills it so. Good land! It were a wondrous thing if His design A fool could baffle or a rogue withstand! If so, then God, I say (intending no offence) Is guilty of contributory negligence.