Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Right?

\Right\ (r[imac]t), a. [OE. right, riht, AS. riht; akin to D. regt, OS. & OHG. reht, G. recht, Dan. ret, Sw. r["a]tt, Icel. r["e]ttr, Goth. ra['i]hts, L. rectus, p. p. of regere to guide, rule; cf. Skr. [.r]ju straight, right. [root]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.'' --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. --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.'' --Chaucer. In this battle, . . . the Britons never more plainly manifested themselves to be right barbarians. --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. --Shak. If there be no prospect beyond the grave, the inference is . . . right, ``Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.'' --Locke. 7. Most favorable or convenient; fortunate. The lady has been disappointed on the right side. --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. --Longfellow. Note: 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. [Colloq.] {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}, n., 5. {Right cone}, {Right cylinder}, {Right prism}, {Right pyramid} (Geom.), a cone, cylinder, prism, or pyramid, the axis of which is perpendicular to the base. {Right line}. See under {Line}. {Right sailing} (Naut.), sailing on one of the four cardinal points, so as to alter a ship's latitude or its longitude, but not both. --Ham. Nav. Encyc. {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. Note: Right is used elliptically for it is right, what you say is right, true. ``Right,'' cries his lordship. --Pope. Syn: Straight; direct; perpendicular; upright; lawful; rightful; true; correct; just; equitable; proper; suitable; becoming.
\Right\, adv. 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. --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. --Tennyson. 3. Exactly; just. [Obs. or Colloq.] Came he right now to sing a raven's note? --Shak. 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. --Roscommon. 6. According to fact or truth; actually; truly; really; correctly; exactly; as, to tell a story right. ``Right at mine own cost.'' --Chaucer. Right as it were a steed of Lumbardye. --Chaucer. His wounds so smarted that he slept right naught. --Fairfax. 7. In a great degree; very; wholly; unqualifiedly; extremely; highly; as, right humble; right noble; right valiant. ``He was not right fat''. --Chaucer. For which I should be right sorry. --Tyndale. [I] return those duties back as are right fit. --Shak. Note: 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. Note: 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.'' --D. Webster.
\Right\, n. [AS. right. See {Right}, a.] 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. --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. --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. --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. --Dryden. Hast thou not right to all created things? --Milton. Men have no right to what is not reasonable. --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. --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. [Obs.] --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. --Chaucer. I should have been a woman by right. --Shak. {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. [R.] --Woodward. (b) At once; directly. [Obs. or Colloq.] --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.
\Right\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Righted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Righting}.] [AS. rihtan. See {Right}, a.] 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. --Shak. 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. --Jefferson. {To right a vessel} (Naut.), to restore her to an upright position after careening. {To right the helm} (Naut.), to place it in line with the keel.
\Right\, v. i. 1. To recover the proper or natural condition or position; to become upright. 2. (Naut.) Hence, to regain an upright position, as a ship or boat, after careening.