Middle English Dictionary Entry
ērect adj.
Entry Info
| Forms | ērect adj. |
| Etymology | L ērect-um. Cp. erecten v. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Upright; (b) fig. of ears: pricked, alert.
Associated quotations
a
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.ML.(Manly-Rickert)B.9 : The shadwe of euery tree Was as in lengthe the same quantitee That was the body erect that caused it.
b
- c1500 15c.Serm.Cycle (BodeMus 180)395/63 : Myne yene schall be opyn and myne eeris erect ryȝtfully to his plesure and prayers, for I haue chosyn and halowyd þat place þat my name be there for evermore.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Sense (b), editor's note: "not recorded in MED with the required meaning of 'attentive, alert'. Its earliest recorded instance in OED is dated 1544." ?Cf. OED erect, adj. and n., sense 3. 'fig. Of the mind: Uplifted, directed upwards; alert, attentive.'