Search the Dictionary

a pier, column, or post; also, a column or shaft not supporting a superstructure, as one erected for a monument or an ornament. Jacob set a pillar upon her grave. Gen. xxxv. 20. The place . . . vast and proud, Supported by a hundred pillars stood. Dryden.

A frame of adjustable boards erected on a post, and having holes through which the head and hands of an offender were thrust so as to be exposed in front of it. Shak.

A genus consisting of an primate (P. erectus) apparently intermediate between man and the existing anthropoid apes, known from bones of a single individual found in Java (hence called Java man) in 1891-92. These bones include a thigh bone of the human type, two molar teeth intermediate between those of man and the ant…

Any Old Word rodent of the genus Hystrix, having the back covered with long, sharp, erectile spines or quills, sometimes a foot long. The common species of Europe and Asia (Hystrix cristata) is the best known.

Borne not erect, but diagonally athwart an escutcheon; as, a cross portate.

erious, earnest advice. Milner. Preaching cross, a cross, sometimes surmounting a pulpit, erected out of doors to designate a preaching place. -- Preaching friars. See Dominican.

More or less permanent erection and rigidity of the penis, with or without sexual desire.

To make sharp; to erect into a point; to raise, as something pointed; -- said especially of the ears of an animal, as a horse or dog; and usually followed by up; -- hence, to prick up the ears, to listen sharply; to have the attention and interest strongly engaged. "The courser . . . pricks up his ears." Dryden.…

Having erect, pointed ears; -- said of certain dogs. Thou prick-eared cur of Iceland. Shak.

Any plant of the genus Primula. Evening primrose, an erect biennial herb (Enothera biennis), with yellow vespertine flowers, common in the United States. The name is sometimes extended to other species of the same genus. -- Primrose peerless, the two-flowered Narcissus (N. biflorus). [Obs.]

In the construction of fieldworks, the erection at proper intervals of wooden profiles, to show to the workmen the sectional form of the parapets at those points.

Bending forward; inclined; not erect. Towards him they bend With awful reverence prone. Milton.

ate of being prone, or of bending downward; as, the proneness of beasts is opposed to the erectness of man.

ions proposed; offer; as, to make proposals for a treaty of peace; to offer proposals for erecting a building; to make proposals of marriage. "To put forth proposals for a book." Macaulay.

A suborder of serpents including those that have permanently erect grooved poison fangs, with ordinary teeth behind them in the jaws. It includes the cobras, the asps, and the sea snakes. Called also Proteroglyphia.

A communistic building erected by certain Indian tribes of Arizona and New Mexico. It is often of large size and several stories high, and is usually built either of stone or adobe. The term is also applied to any Indian village in the same region. Pueblo Indians (Ethnol.), any tribe or community of Indians living in p…

ite; to instigate; -- followed by to; as, he put the lad up to mischief. (i) To raise; to erect; to build; as, to put up a tent, or a house. (j) To lodge; to entertain; as, to put up travelers. -- To put up a job, to arrange a plot. [Slang]

To cause to rise up, or assume an erect position or posture; to set up; to make upright; as, to raise a mast or flagstaff. Hence: --

To raise; to lift up; to cause to rise, become erect, etc.; to elevate; as, to rear a monolith. In adoration at his feet I fell Submiss; he reared me. Milton. It reareth our hearts from vain thoughts. Barrow. Mine [shall be] the first hand to rear her banner. Ld. Lytton.

A small, and usually a roughly constructed, fort or outwork of varying shape, commonly erected for a temporary purpose, and without flanking defenses, -- used esp. in fortifying tops of hills and passes, and positions in hostile territory.