Also 6 Sc. ereck, 5–6 pa. pple. erect(e. [f. L. ērect- ppl. stem of ērigĕre: see prec.]
† I. trans. To elevate in direction or position.
† 1. To direct upwards; to lift up (the eyes, hands, etc.). Also To erect up. Obs.
1609. Man in Moone (1849), 39. Erect thy countenance, like a man.
1635. Pagitt, Christianogr., I. ii. (1636), 61. The Bishop … erecting his hands, stood all the while with his face to the Altar.
a. 1634. Chapman, Revenge Hon., Wks. 1873, III. 337. Good sir, erect your looks.
1704. Swift, T. Tub, Wks. 1760, I. Introd. 26. To stand with their mouths open, and erected.
fig. 1548. Gest, Pr. Masse, 117. Having our mindes erected up into heaven.
1629. H. Burton, Babel no Bethel, 4. Wee erect our best attention to this motion.
1690. Norris, Beatitudes (1694), I. 54. The Minds of Men began to be more generally erected towards Heaven.
† b. To put up on high; to lift up (the head); also, to hoist up. Obs.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 52. Moyses … made & ereckit a brassin ymage of a serpent.
1567. Trial Treas., in Hazl., Dodsley, III. 273. That thou art nat erected, in faith, it is pity, As high as three trees and a halter will reach.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 9. A little chappell made conduitwise, wherein is erected the picture of Christ and the Virgin Mary.
1696. Tate & Brady, Ps. xxiv. 7. Erect your Heads, eternal Gates.
1767. Babler, I. 224. However we may erect the crest upon the superior dignity of manhood.
† 2. To exalt in consideration or dignity; to raise to eminence or importance; elevate to office; in earlier use, to raise to (a kingdom); to set up for, to be (an emperor, king, etc.). Also To erect up.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 283. Grete Charles … was erecte to the kyngedome of Fraunce after the dethe of his fader.
1549–62. Sternhold & H., Ps. lxxxix. 20. A man of might I have erect your king and guide to be.
1583. Exec. for Treason (1675), 27. Bishops, who in the Popes name had erected him up.
a. 1592. Greene, Jas. IV., Wks. (1861), 198. He shall erect your state and wed you well.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., VI. xlii. 3. The Ægyptians erected one Saturninus a Captaine … for Emperour.
a. 1631. Donne, in Select. fr. Donne (1840), 16. Thou shalt find … as many records of attainted families … as of families newly erected and presently celebrated.
1656. Bramhall, Replic., vi. 238. Lawfull for the King and Church of England … to have erected a new Primate.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 130, ¶ 2. We have seen … Monarchs erected and deposed.
† b. To elevate into or unto (a specified condition). Obs.
1508. Fisher, Wks., 254. They were erecte vnto eternal lyfe.
1589. R. Robinson, in Farr, S. P. Eliz. (1845), II. 364. Erect my spirite into thy blisse.
II. To raise to an upright position.
3. To raise, set upright (the body, oneself, etc.); to rear (a standard). Also fig.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 5. Erecting one most like to fall.
1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., II. Wks. 1856, I. 25. Ladie, erect your gratious simmetry.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. iii. 74. Thus if unto the powder of Loadstone or Iron we admove the North pole of the Loadstone, the powders or small divisions will erect and conforme themselves thereto.
1730. A. Gordon, Maffei’s Amphith., 93. The Charioteers sometimes bowed to the Ground, then erected themselves on high.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 6, ¶ 3. The necessity of erecting ourselves to some degree of intellectual dignity.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VII. 49. The muscle … is capable of erecting itself on an edge.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. IV. iii. 97. Erected against Aliverdi the standard of revolt.
1877. Mrs. Oliphant, Makers Flor., xiii. 325. His weak frame erected itself.
b. Optics. To restore (an inverted optical image) to an upright position.
1831. Brewster, Newton (1855), I. x. 245. Without using two glasses, the object may be erected.
† c. intr. for refl. To straighten oneself, assume an upright position.
1626. Bacon, Sylva (1631), § 827. By Wet, Stalkes doe erect, and Leaues bow downe.
4. To set upright (a member of the body); to prick up (the ears); also Phys. (chiefly in pass.), to render turgid and rigid any organ containing erectile tissue.
1626. Bacon, Sylva (1637), § 266. You … erect your Eare, when you would heare attentiuely.
1718. Rowe, trans. Lucan, I. 540/21. At ev’ry Shout [the horse] erects his quiv’ring Ears.
1796. Burke, Regic. Peace, Wks. VIII. 318. That this faction … does erect its crest upon the engagement, there can be little doubt.
† 5. fig. from 3, 4. To rouse, stir up, excite, embolden (the mind, oneself). Obs.
c. 1568. Coverdale, Treat. Death, I. xvi. We ought to erect and comfort ourselves with the resurrection.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. iv. § 2. Ee 2. It doth raise and erect the Minde.
1641. Denham, Sophy, I. (1642), 3 (J.). Why should not hope As much erect our thoughts, as feare deject them…?
1654. R. Codrington, trans. Ivstine’s Hist., 314. With this Victory the courages of the Sicilians were erected, and the spirits of the Carthaginians fainted.
1665. J. Sergeant, Sure-footing, 201–2. His Book coming forth … my Expectation was more erected.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1826), II. 131. He found his spirits low, and thought to … erect them by a glass or two of sherry.
† b. occas. To stimulate (in a physical sense).
1620. Venner, Via Recta (1650), 273. It … erecteth the digestive faculty of the stomack.
† 6. To elate with pride. Obs.
1631. R. H., Arraignm. Whole Creature, xii. § 5. 137–8. Least … the contemplation of their proud plumes, and feathers too much erect them, and puffe them up.
III. To set on a foundation, construct, establish.
7. To set up (a building, statue, framework, etc.); to rear, build. Also † To erect up.
1417. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., II. 19, I. 59. He hath erected a new tower upon the same for a warde.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind., I. IV. (Arb.), 80. The inhabitantes sawe newe buyldynges to bee dayly erected.
1570. Abp. Parker, Corr. (1853), 372. Intending … to erect up certain iron mills.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. ii. 80. Erect his Statue, and worship it.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 229. Erect on the out-side Wall your Stove … of Brick.
1692. O. Walker, Greek & Rom. Hist. Illustr., 288. Gallus lamented much his death, and erected him a Sepulchre.
1701. De Foe, True-born Eng., I. 1.
| Whereever God erects a House of Prayer, | |
| The Devil always builds a Chappel there: | |
| And ’twill be found upon Examination, | |
| The latter has the largest Congregation. |
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), I. 446. He erects trophies.
1825. Hornblower, in J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 190. An engine was erected in the vicinity of Bath … on this principle.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 16. A more peaceful class erected silk manufactories in the eastern suburb of London.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), II. ix. 382. The scaffold had been awkwardly erected.
¶ To build (a vessel).
1650. Sir J. Burroughs, in Wealth of Gt. Brit. (1749), 33. By erecting two hundred and fifty busses … there will be employment for one thousand ships.
b. fig. To build up (a theory, conclusion, etc.), set up (a pretension). Also absol.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. vii. 25. For our advanced beliefs are not to be built upon dictates, but … we … are to erect upon the surer base of reason.
a. 1704. Locke, Exam. Malebranche, § 2. Wks. 1714, III. 429 (J.). P. Malebranche … erects this [proposition] of Seeing all things in God upon their Ruin.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. ii. 350. The pretension erected by Mr. Hastings … would destroy one great source of the evidence.
1864. J. H. Newman, Apologia, 195. It was necessary for us to have a positive Church theory erected on a definite basis.
8. a. Geom. To set up or draw (a perpendicular to a given line); † to construct (a triangle, etc., upon a given base). b. Astrol. and Astron. To ‘set up’ (a figure of the heavens).
a. 1646. J. Gregory, Assyr. Mon., in Posth. (1650), 215. This was the figure of the Heavens when they were first formed, the same beeing Astronomically calculated and erected according to Tycho’s Tables.
1660. Barrow, Euclid, I. x. Upon the line given AB erect an equilateral triangle.
a. 1672. Wood, Life (1848), 73. After Lillie (the astronomer) had erected his figure, he told her [etc.].
1715. Kersey, To Erect a Figure, to divide the 12 Houses a-right.
1815. Scott, Guy M., iv. He accordingly erected his scheme, or figure of heaven.
1828. J. H. Moore, Pract. Navig., 44. On B erect the perpendicular BA.
1887. T. B. Reed, O. E. Lett. Found, 182. He [Moxon] professes to be able to erect in any other square … the same letter.
† 9. To set up, establish, found (an office, court of justice, corporation, institution, etc.); to initiate, set on foot (a project, scheme). Obs. or arch. exc. in Law.
1565. Calfhill, Answ. Treat. Crosse (1846), 24. A pilgrimage in Wales was straight erected.
1570. in Strype, Ann. Ref., I. lvii. 626. The Divinity Lecture, erected by the Noble Lady MARGARET.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., X. lviii. (1612), 254. This League was halowed … gainst all That worke the gospell to erect.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., I. xv. 73. There is no Civill Power erected over the parties promising.
1663. Marvell, Corr., Wks. 1872–5, II. xl. 88. Courts of Merchants to be erected in some … ports of the nation.
1683. Royal Proclam., in Lond. Gaz., No. 1856/1. The Office of Post-Master General hath been Erected by Act of Parliament.
1743. Tindal, trans. Rapin’s Hist. Eng., II. 151, note. This year Queen Elizabeth erected the East-India Company.
1761–2. Hume, Hist. Eng., II. xli. 415. The Jesuits, a new order of regular priests erected in Europe.
1792. Chipman, Amer. Law Rep. (1871), 12. The statute has erected a summary jurisdiction.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. ix. 702. The ministerial board erected by Mr. Pitt.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1869), III. iii. 125. Two Courts of High Commission were erected.
1865. H. Phillips, Amer. Paper Curr., II. 56. Congress resolved to erect a lottery.
† b. To raise (an armed force); to form (a nation). Obs.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., III. (1520), 24/2. These two erected an hoost ayenst Hanyball.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, II. i. 20. When a Companie is newly leuied and erected [etc.].
c. 1618. Raleigh (J.). He suffers seventy-two distinct nations to be erected out of the first monarchy under distinct governours.
1680. Hickes, Spir. Popery, 71. The Cess … for erecting and maintaining the foresaid additional Forces.
1698. J. Crull, Muscovy, 123. A new Body of Militia should be erected in their stead.
10. To erect into [cf. Fr. ériger en]: to constitute or form into (e.g., an organization, municipality, territorial division, etc.); to set up as (a rule or precedent); to invest with the rank or character of; † to represent as.
1670–98. Lassels, Voy. Italy, Pref. 1. I had not the least thought … of erecting myself into an Authour.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 56, ¶ 1. For the Sharpers … are by Custom erected into a real and venerable Body of Men.
1718. Col. Rec. Pennsylv., III. 58. The sd. town might be Erected into a Borough by a Charter [etc.].
a. 1768. Erskine, Inst. Law Scotl. (1773), 345. By secularizing, or, in our law-style, erecting most of the monasteries into temporal lordships.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), III. 455. The Officers of an inferior order … erected themselves into seignorial proprietors.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. viii. 669. He could erect every interference in that sovereignty into an act of guilt.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., vii. Her majesty was minded to erect the town into a staple for wool.
1822. [Mary A. Kelty], Osmond, I. 158. You … erect him into a standard of right and wrong.
1839. Yeowell, Anc. Brit. Ch., xi. (1847), 110. Valentia … was erected into a province.
1860. Mill, Repr. Govt. (1865), 54/2. That portion … whom the institutions of the country have erected into a ruling class.
¶ 11. ? Used for ARRECT, DIRECT.
1526. Skelton, Magnyf., 2507. Unto me formest this processe is erectyd.
1655. M. Carter, Hon. Rediv., Ep. Ded. No more then the Subject of it (which is Honor) erects.
