aright

adv, verb — 3 senses

aright

adv

UK, US /əˈɹaɪt/

Etymology From Middle English ariȝt, ariht, from Old English āriht (“aright, properly”), from earlier *an riht, on riht (“rightly”), corresponding to a- + right.

1

Rightly, correctly; in the right way or form.

  • it is not easie we should so often settle our minds in so regular, so reformed, and so devout a seat, where indeed it ought to be, to pray aright and effectually: otherwise our praiers are not only vaine and unprofitable, but vicious.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 56, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
  • Hear him not; call on the names of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth, my father, and of the wretched Victor, and thrust your sword into his heart. I will hover near and direct the steel aright.1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], “chapter 24”, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC:
2 more examples
  • The great service which he rendered to science was that he put the right questions ; it was not that he answered them aright.1910, James George Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, volume 1, page vii:
  • "Well, gentlemen, have I read you the riddle aright, or is there any point which you would query?"1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
2

Archaic To or on the right-hand side.

  • Once more away! and now The long descent is seen, A long, long, narrow path. Ice rocks aright, and hills of snow, Aleft the giddy precipice.1801, Robert Southey, “(please specify the page)”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] [F]or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Cottle, […], →OCLC:
Derived terms
set aright

aright

verb

Etymology From Middle English arighten, arihten (“to raise up”); and Middle English iriȝten, irihten, ȝerihten (“to make right, correct, erect”), from Old English ġerihtan (“to set right”), equivalent to a- + right.

1

To make right; put right; arrange or treat properly.

  • But, from working with those who have felt exiled and damned, excoriated and benumbed, and yet have made it back to useful and creative life again, I know there are more sure, albeit intense, ways to aright oneself.2003, John Beebe, Terror, Violence, and the Impulse to Destroy:
Related terms
eright

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.