right, n.
Forms:
α. eOE reoht (Kentish), eOE riaht (Kentish), OE reht (chiefly Anglian), lME reght, lME reghte, lME reyght, lME reyte, lME reythe; Sc. pre-17 recht, pre-17 reicht, pre-17 reycht, pre-17 reyt, pre-17 reyth; Irish English (Wexford) 18 reicht.
β. OE hriht (rare), OE rieht (rare), OE (rare)–ME rict, OE (rare)–ME riþt, OE–ME ryht, OE–15 riht, eME ricst, eME rid, eME rihht ( Ormulum), eME ryhyt, ME rgit (in copy of OE charter), ME rich, ME richȝ, ME richte, ME ricth, ME riȝht, ME riȝhte, ME rigt, ME riȝt, ME riȝte, ME riȝth, ME riȝtt, ME riȝtte, ME rihte, ME rihtt- (inflected form), ME rijt, ME rist, ME rit, ME rith, ME ritht, ME rithte, ME rizt (in copy of OE charter), ME rych, ME ryȝght, ME rygȝt, ME rygh, ME ryȝht, ME rygt, ME ryȝt, ME rygte, ME ryȝte, ME rygth, ME ryȝth, ME ryȝthe, ME ryȝtte, ME ryte, ME ryth, ME rythe, ME ryþt, ME (16 rare) richt, ME 16 rite, ME–15 rigth, ME–16 righte, ME–16 ryghte, ME–17 ryght, ME– right, lME rycht (in a late copy), 18 reight (U.S. regional); Eng. regional 18– raight, 18– reet (north.), 18– roight; Sc. pre-17 rhyct, pre-17 rich, pre-17 richte, pre-17 riht, pre-17 rit, pre-17 roycht, pre-17 royght, pre-17 rych, pre-17 rycht, pre-17 rychte, pre-17 ryght, pre-17 ryht, pre-17 ryt, pre-17 ryth, pre-17 rytht, pre-17 wryct, pre-17 17– richt, pre-17 17– right; also Irish English (Wexford) 17 riaught, 18 richt.
(Show Less)Etymology:
A word inherited from Germanic. Etymon: i-riht n.
Cognate with or formed similarly to Old Frisian riucht (West Frisian rjocht , rjucht ), Old Dutch reht (Middle Dutch recht , Dutch recht ), Old Saxon reht (Middle Low German recht ), Old High German reht (Middle High German reht , German recht ) < the Germanic base of right adj. Compare also Old Icelandic réttr , Old Swedish rätter (Swedish rätt ), Old Danish ræt (Danish ret ), which reflect a different formation (u -stem) ultimately < the same Germanic base. In some senses (especially sense 15 and Phrases 3) probably also partly aphetic < i-riht n.
Cognate with or formed similarly to Old Frisian riucht (West Frisian rjocht , rjucht ), Old Dutch reht (Middle Dutch recht , Dutch recht ), Old Saxon reht (Middle Low German recht ), Old High German reht (Middle High German reht , German recht ) < the Germanic base of right adj. Compare also Old Icelandic réttr , Old Swedish rätter (Swedish rätt ), Old Danish ræt (Danish ret ), which reflect a different formation (u -stem) ultimately < the same Germanic base. In some senses (especially sense 15 and Phrases 3) probably also partly aphetic < i-riht n.
In Old English a strong neuter (a -stem); the prefixed form geriht i-riht n. is also commonly attested. The early Kentish form reoht (see α. forms) shows regular breaking of short e before a velar fricative, while the regular Anglian form reht (see α. forms) shows smoothing of the diphthong. In West Saxon, on the other hand, monophthongization and raising before a palatalized fricative followed by a dental consonant (palatal mutation) resulted in the form riht or (with laxed vowel after r ) ryht (originally only word-finally or if followed by a front vowel, but apparently soon extended analogically to such forms as genitive plural rihta ), a change that is also attested in later Kentish sources. Such forms gradually spread northwards in late Old English and early Middle English (compare Older Scots richt beside less frequent recht ). See further A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §§304–11, R. M. Hogg Gram. Old Eng. (1992) I. §§5.113–18, R. Jordan Handb. der mittelenglischen Grammatik (1934) §69. In Middle English the semantic development was probably influenced by similar developments shown by Anglo-Norman and Old French dreit , Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French droit droit n.1, as were a number of phrasal constructions.
I. That which is considered proper, correct, or consonant with justice, and related uses.
†1. The standard of permitted and forbidden action within a particular sphere; law; a rule. Obs.
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist.
(Tanner)
iv. v. 276
[Licade] us efencuman æfter þeawe arwyrðra rehta [L. iuxta morem canonum venerabilium] smeagende bi þæm..intingum Godes cirican.
OE Blickling Homilies 135
Þæt hie mihton þurh þa gife þæs Halgan Gastes..oferswiþan þa men þe hie ongeaton þæt wiðerwearde wæron Godes beboda & þæs gastlican rihtes.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron.
(Laud)
(Peterborough contin.)
anno 1129
Se ærcebiscop..bead biscopes..þet hi scolden ealle cumen to Lundene at Michaeles messe & þær scolden sprecon of ealle Godes rihtes.
?c1200 Ormulum
(Burchfield transcript)
l. 7202
Þe laþe gastess þeww. Iss gramm..whann se he seþ þatt godess rihht & godess laȝhe riseþþ.
a1325
(▸c1250)
Gen. & Exod.
(1968)
l. 451
Ðis lamech was ðe firme man, Ðe bigamie first bi-gan... For ai was rigt and kire bi-forn, On man, on wif, til he was boren.
c1405
(▸c1390)
Chaucer Melibeus
(Hengwrt)
(2003)
§559
Ye shul venge yow after the ordre of right, that is to seyn, by the lawe, and nat by excesse ne by outrage.
a1450
(▸c1412)
T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum
(Harl. 4866)
2612 (MED),
We Romayns kepen riȝtes of bataile As trewely as þe rightes of pees; Our custume is no children to assayle.
1483 Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. 427/1,
Grete scyence, bothe in ryght cyuyl and in Cannon.
a1525 Bk. Chess 1059 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS
(1923)
I
Ligurius..Seand his towne withoutin law or richt..maid xij lawes.
c1580 tr. Bk. Alexander the Great ii. 1372
Gif that I lufe that maidin.., I aucht to lufe all hirris,..For that, I hope, is lufis richt.
1610 A. Willet Hexapla in Danielem 356
These doe not distinguish betweene the ceasing of the sacrifices in right and in fact.
1694 J. Tyrrell Bibliotheca Politica ix. 651
As the King is the greatest in distributing of right, or Law to his Subjects, so ought he to be no more than the least of them in submiting to right judgment if he be Petitioned to.
1717 M. Prior Dove 3
She wak'd, be sure, with strange Surprize; O Cupid, is this Right or Law, Thus to disturb the brightest Eyes, That ever slept, or ever saw?
eOE—1717(Hide quotations)
2. Something proper for, or incumbent on, a person to do; one's duty.The sense ‘a duty, an obligation’ survives regionally in the phrase to have a right to (see sense 9f).
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care
(Hatton)
(1871)
xxi. 159
Ðæt ðonne bið ðæs recceres ryht ðæt he ðurh ða stemne his lariowdomes ætiewe ðæt wuldor ðæs uplican eðles.
OE Genesis A
(1931)
1
Us is riht micel ðæt we rodera weard..wordum herigen.
?c1225
(▸?a1200)
Ancrene Riwle
(Cleo. C.vi)
(1972)
108
In nidulo meo moriar, þet is ich wule deiȝen inminest..for þet is ancre richte.
?c1225
(▸?a1200)
Ancrene Riwle
(Cleo. C.vi)
(1972)
115
Vigilaui ich wes waker for þet is ancre richte Muche for to wakien.
a1325
(▸c1250)
Gen. & Exod.
(1968)
l. 1270
He bad him maken siker pligt Of luue and trewðe in frendes rigt, Ðat ne sulde him nogwer deren, Oc him and hise helpen and weren.
▸a1393 Gower Confessio Amantis
(Fairf.)
vii. 3849
Evere it was a kinges riht To do the dedes of a knyht.
a1413
(▸c1385)
Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde
(Pierpont Morgan)
(1881)
i. l. 591,
I wole parten with þe al þyn peyne If it be so I do þe no comfort As it is frendes right soth for to seyne To entreparten wo as glad desport.
?a1475 Ludus Coventriae 360 (MED),
We schal wachyn and wake as oure dewe and ryth.
1609 J. Skene Regiam Majestatem i. 23
(margin)
The maister sould gar his man do richt.
eOE—1609(Hide quotations)
3.
a. That which is consonant with justice, goodness, or reason; something morally or socially correct, just, or honourable.Often contrasted with might and wrong (see also might is right at might n.1 Phrases 5); also, in Middle English, freq. coupled with reason or skill (see by right and reason at reason n.1 Phrases 3a). See also right and law at law n.1 15.
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos.
(Otho)
(2009)
I. xxvii. 513
Ne þæt nis nan riht þæt mon þone yflan hatige.
OE Beowulf
(2008)
1700
Þæt, la, mæg secgan se þe soð ond riht fremeð on folce.
OE Homily: Sermo ad Populum Dominicis Diebus
(Lamb. 489)
in A. S. Napier Wulfstan
(1883)
298
Unrihtdeman, þe demað æfre be þam sceatte and swa wendað wrang to rihte and riht to wrange.
c1225
(▸?c1200)
St. Katherine
(Royal)
(1981)
l. 446 (MED),
Hit is aȝein riht & aȝein leaue of euch cundelich lahe þet godd..mahe deð drehen.
c1275
(▸?a1216)
Owl & Nightingale
(Calig.)
950
Wraþþe meinþ þe horte blod..An al þe heorte..so for leost al hire liht, Þat heo ne siþ soð neriht.
c1325 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent.
(1959)
29 (MED),
When ryþt ant Wrong ascenteþ to-gedere..Whenne shal þis be? Nouþer in þine tyme ne in myne.
▸a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron.
(St. John's Cambr.)
(1865)
I. 351 (MED),
Men of þis lond..acounteþ riȝt and wrong al for oon.
a1400
(▸a1325)
Cursor Mundi
(Vesp.)
29 (MED),
Þe wisman wil o wisdom here..þe wrang to here o right is lath.
a1425
(▸?a1400)
Chaucer Romaunt Rose
(Hunterian)
(1891)
l. 3154
Thou wolt shame hym..Bothe ageyns resoun and right.
1508 Golagrus & Gawain 1219
Now wil I be obeyand And make the manrent with hand As right is and skill.
▸?a1513 W. Dunbar Poems
(1998)
134,
I cry him lord of euere full..And verralie that war gryt rycht.
1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis
(new ed.)
ix. f. 119,
Too age it dooth belong Too keepe the rigor of the lawes and search out ryght from wrong.
?1600 T. Wilson State of Eng. A.D. 1600 5, in Camden Misc.
(1936)
XVI
The strugling of the houses of Lancaster and Yorke, where many times Might hath overcome Ryght.
1609 Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida i. iii. 116
Force should be right or rather right and wrong..Should loose their names.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost viii. 572
Self-esteem, grounded on just and right Well manag'd.
1737 Gentleman's Mag. Mar. 131/1
You must acknowledge a Distinction betwixt Right and Wrong, founded in Nature,..by which Actions may be call'd just or unjust.
1757 W. Wilkie Epigoniad iv. 118
So let their blood be shed, who scorning right, Shall impiously dare its ties to slight.
1849 G. Grote Hist. Greece VIII. ii. lxvii. 463
There was no man..who might not be cast or condemned, or fail in his own suit, even with right on his side.
1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 46
We judge a stranger by our home-bred ways, Who, maybe, walks by other rule of right.
1956 J. Wyndham Seeds of Time
(1960)
159
‘So young, Terry. So sure of right and wrong. It's rather sweet.’
1959 D. Lessing Each in his own Wilderness 30
Yet on you go, jolly and optimistic that right will prevail.
2003 C. Mendelson Daughters of Jerusalem 303
They cannot fault his grammar, or his extemporizations; he has, without question, right on his side.
eOE—2003(Hide quotations)
†b. The fact or position of having justice, reason, or fact on one's side. Chiefly in to have right (cf. senses Phrases 1a(d), 8). Obs. (arch. in later use).
OE Homily
(Hatton 113)
in A. S. Napier Wulfstan
(1883)
99
Hy eac..mid manegum godum þingum geswutelodon, þæt hy riht hæfdon.
a1425
(▸?a1400)
Chaucer Romaunt Rose
(Hunterian)
(1891)
l. 4543
Resoun hadde bothe skile and ryght Whanne she me blamed.
a1450 Generides
(Pierpont Morgan)
(1865)
5534
Right maketh a feble man strong.
c1485
(▸1456)
G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys
(2005)
69
Had the pape clement had rycht, his folk had nocht bene jn bataill disconfyte.
a1500
(▸?c1450)
Merlin
(1899)
409 (MED),
Thei haue right to go, for the abidinge here for hem is not goode.
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Jus,
The indifferent iudge attributed victorie to him..to whome right appeared.
1604 T. Wright Passions of Minde
(1620)
117
Whether you have right or wrong, I knowe you must have the last word.
1658 T. Burton Diary
(1828)
II. 428
The excluding of the old peerage, which have right and are a considerable party.
1798 C. Leftley tr. Goethe Clavidgo i. v. 14
The sense of a good cause shall confirm my resolution, and trust me, if we have right, we will find justice.
1823 Scott Peveril III. vi. 160
The bigots have some right when they affirm that all is for the best.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake II. viii. 138
‘The King has right!’ cried Hereward. ‘Let them take the plunder’ [etc.].
OE—1866(Hide quotations)
c. The true account or interpretation (of a story or event); the facts of a matter. In later use chiefly in pl. Now rare.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Mark
(Corpus Cambr.)
v. 33
Þa beseah he hine þæt he gesawe þæne ðe þæt dyde. Ðat wif..sæde him eall þæt riht [L. omnem veritatem]._
1630 E. Cary tr. J. D. Du Perron Reply to Answeare of King i. v. 26
To know the right of the cause of the Church in one particular question, with one or other Sect, sufficeth not to knowe the Church by the doctrin.
1711 E. Ward Life Don Quixote II. xxix. 122
Thou proud discourteous Knight, Pray stay, and let me know the right Of all things I have ask'd, or by This Arm you shall this Instant dye.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones VI. xviii. ii. 177
There hath been a terrible to do. I could not possibly learn the very Right of it.
1751 E. Haywood Hist. Betsy Thoughtless III. xii. 146,
I verily believe thou hast hit upon the right.
a1848 F. Marryat Valerie
(1849)
I. vii. 194,
I have never heard the rights of that story.
1853 G. J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand I. vi. 166
Those ladies who dearly love the last bit of news..and who are never satisfied without learning what they call the rights of it.
1885 J. Hawthorne in Outing Sept. 678
‘Come with me,’ said Warren. ‘I must know the rights of this business at once.’ And they turned eastward, towards Madison avenue.
1915 A. Conan Doyle Valley of Fear i. vii. 139
Until yesterday, after you gentlemen had seen her, she never knew the rights of the matter.
c1938 D. Lenton Mystery of Ironworks iii. 33
When dinner-time came, many of the hands in the other departments crowded into the shop to ‘learn the rights’ of the morning's incident and see the young hero thereof.
a1957 G. Murray Unfinished Autobiogr.
(1960)
i. 39
Of course I do not know the rights of the matter, but it was bitterly remembered.
OE—a1957(Hide quotations)
d. Consonance with fact; correctness. Chiefly with modifying phrase. Now rare.
1633 J. Monlas Quadrivium Sionis 124
With a great deale of right and equity, wee shall beare the blessed and glorious title of his children.
1750 Adventures Mr. Loveill I. xxvi. 322
His thoughts were no sooner at liberty..than he recollected that those ladies had a great deal of right to them.
1796 E. Burke 2 Lett. Peace Regicide Directory of France ii. 171
Whether..there was some mixture of right and wrong in their reasoning.
1849 J. Ruskin Seven Lamps Archit. iv. 118,
I can but rapidly name the chief conditions of right.
1867 J. Ruskin Time & Tide x. §51
And yet..there was something of right in the terrors of this clerical conclave.
1920 F. M. Eliot Unwrought Iron xx. 142
At the beginning, almost every controversy is one that has something of right and something of wrong on both sides.
1633—1920(Hide quotations)
e. In pl. Contrasted with wrongs. The just, good, equitable, or correct aspects of something; the points in favour of something.
1800 T. Dugmore Obs. on inclosing Manor Melbourne 97
By endeavouring to investigate and expose the rights and wrongs of the things to which the subject matter we have had before us relates, it may possibly happen that some disgust may be taken.
1851 Times 2 June 4/3
The clause..must appear to every unlearned mind a fair, clear, and temperate exposition of the rights and wrongs of this question.
1968 L. H. Evers Fall among Thieves 177
The rights and wrongs of ‘lagging’..formed the sole topic of debate.
2001 A. Gurnah By Sea
(2002)
ii. 54,
I don't know the rights and wrongs of it, but we can't just turn them away, can we?
1800—2001(Hide quotations)
4. Just or equitable treatment; fairness in decision; justice. Freq. and now only in to do (a person) right at Phrases 1a(a).
OE Agreement between Bp. Wærferð & Æðelwold (Sawyer 1441) in F. E. Harmer Sel. Eng. Hist. Docs. 9th & 10th Cent.
(1914)
24
Þa cwædan alle þa weotan þæt mon uðe þære circan ryhtes swa wel swa oþerre.
a1325
(▸c1250)
Gen. & Exod.
(1968)
l. 52
Ðat heli luue..weldet alle ðinge wit rigt & [s]kil.
c1450 Contin. Lydgate's Secrees
(Sloane 2464)
l. 2051 (MED),
Ryght and the Kyng as brethryn owen to be.
1487
(▸a1380)
J. Barbour Bruce
(St. John's Cambr.)
xvi. 598
The gilt spuris..He suld in hy ger hew ȝow fra; Richt vald with cowardis men did swa.
1535 Bible
(Coverdale)
2 Chron. vi. 23
Then heare thou from heauen, and se yt thy seruaunt haue righte.
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Jus,
Nundinatio iuris, sellyng of right and iustice.
1589 T. Lodge Scillaes Metamorphosis
(Hunterian Club)
20
Which spectacle of care made Thetis..call on Glaucus, and command her Sonne To yeelde her right.
1642 T. Fuller Holy State i. xi. 34,
I can do her memorie no better right, then to confesse she was wrong in somethings.
1691 T. Hale Acct. New Inventions 86
In right to his Majesty and his Service, no less than to it and themselves.
1735 W. Somervile Chace ii. 71
Oh! were a Theban Lyre not wanting here, And Pindar's Voice, to do their merit right!
1828 Scott Fair Maid of Perth viii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. II. 240
To petition the King, as a matter of right, that the murder of their fellow-citizen should be inquired into.
OE—1828(Hide quotations)
5. With the. That which is fair, just, or morally correct; righteousness, justice, truth; esp. the cause of truth or justice. Cf. sense 3.
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Deut.
(Claud.)
xvi. 20
Fylige rihtlice ðam rihte [L. iuste quod iustum est persequeris], ðæt ðu libbe lange on ðam lande ðe Drihten..ðe sylð.
c1300 St. Thomas Becket
(Laud)
l. 1111 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary
(1887)
138 (MED),
Noble ȝiftes and oþur Iueles with hem al-so heo nome—Þare-with man mai ofte at court þe riȝte bringe to wouȝ.
▸a1393 Gower Confessio Amantis
(Fairf.)
Prol. 388 (MED),
Thus the riht hath no defence.
c1440
(▸a1400)
Awntyrs Arthure
(Thornton)
263 (MED),
We..riche rewmes ouer rynnes agaynes the ryghte And wynnes wirchippis and welthis.
c1475
(▸?c1300)
Guy of Warwick
(Caius)
3439 (MED),
The right is oure; bee not aferde..we woll mete theim with spere and shelde.
1535 Bible
(Coverdale)
Psalms xvi[i]. 1
Heare ye right (O Lorde), considre my complaynte.
1568 A. Scott Poems
(1896)
ii. 63
The harralde cryd, ‘God schaw the rycht.’
1611 Bible
(King James)
Isa. x. 2
To take away the right from the poore of my people.
a1616 Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2
(1623)
ii. iii. 55
Here let them end it, and God defend the right.
1690 W. Walker Idiomatologia Anglo-Lat. 376
The right itself shineth of itself.
1774 O. Goldsmith Retaliation 40
Too fond of the right to pursue the expedient.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. v. 561
The liberty of governing himself..according to his own sense of the right and of the becoming.
1865 A. Lincoln 2nd Inaug. Address 4 Mar. in Coll. Wks.
(1953)
VIII. 333
With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.
1903 H. James Ambassadors vi. xiii. 181
He guessed at intense little preferences and sharp little exclusions, a deep suspicion of the vulgar and a personal view of the right.
1998 H. S. Becker Tricks of Trade i. 7
This is a case where the ‘right’ is the enemy of the good. What the tricks do suggest is ways to turn things around.
OE—1998(Hide quotations)
†6.
a. Judicial decision, judgment; a judgment, verdict, or sentence. Also (in quot. a1500): a judge. Obs.
eOE Laws of Ælfred
(Corpus Cambr. 173)
i. §8. 48
Gif þær ðonne oþer mennisc borg sie, bete þone borgbryce swa him ryht wisie, & ðone wedbryce swa him his scrift scrife.
lOE Laws: Dunsæte
(Corpus Cambr.)
iii. §2. 376,
XII lahmen scylon riht tæcean Wealan & Ænglan: VI Englisce & VI Wylisce.
?c1225
(▸?a1200)
Ancrene Riwle
(Cleo. C.vi)
(1972)
210
Hwen dei of richt is iset, ne deð he scheome þe aþis half þe isette dei brekeð þe triwes & wrekeð him.
c1325 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics
(1968)
69 (MED),
When we bueþ dempned after vr dede a domesday, when ryhtes bueþ tolde..to speke þenne we bueþ vnbolde.
▸a1382 Bible
(Wycliffite, E.V.)
(Douce 369(1))
(1850)
Esther i. 13
The king..askide the wise men, that..dide alle thingus bi the counseil of hem, kunnende the lawe and the riȝtis [L. iura; a1425 L.V. ritis] of more men.
1418 in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng.
(1931)
200
Theroff was abatyd For Gobettes, By assent, Jugement, & Rychȝt Off all þe seyd partyes, þe Cobettes þat weyden ij c v lb.
a1500 Disciplina Clericalis in Western Reserve Univ. Bull.
(1919)
22 39
Than the Right [L. justitia] callid thaccusers and the accused and comaunded that thei shulden Reherse the plees, and so thei diden.
eOE—a1500(Hide quotations)
b. Due reward or punishment. Obs.
OE Laws of Cnut
(Nero)
ii. xxxiii. §1a. 336
And gif hine hwa forene forstande, beon hi begen anes rihtes wyrðe.
lOE Laws: Hundredgemot
(Corpus Cambr.)
ii. 192
Do ðam ðeofe his riht, swa hit ær Eadmundes cwide wæs.
a1225
(▸c1200)
Vices & Virtues 105 (MED),
Ðes ilche hali mihte iusticia..acseð riht of alle ure misdades and dom.
c1300 St. Brendan
(Laud)
l. 541 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary
(1887)
234 (MED),
In þe brennynde hulle þat ech of eov i-saiȝ Mi [sc. Judas's] riȝte is to brennen Inne boþe nyȝt and dayȝ.
c1475 Mankind
(Folg.)
(1969)
l. 862 (MED),
Mercy ys plente tyll deth makyth hys dywysion; But whan ȝe be go, vsque ad minimum quadrantem ȝe scha[ll] rekyn ȝour ryght.
OE—c1475(Hide quotations)
†7. Hunting. The scent, the track; (also) a call of a horn to signify that a hound has found the scent. Obs.
a1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game
(Digby)
13
A bolde hounde shulde neuer pleyne nor yowle, but if he were oute of þe reghtes; And also he shulde agayne seche þe rightes.
c1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game
(Vesp. B.xii)
(1904)
105
If he fynde þat he may wel blow þe rigthes and halowe and jopey iii or iiii tymes and crie loude, ‘le voy le voy,’ til þe houndes be come þider.
c1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game
(Vesp. B.xii)
(1904)
97
What houndes þat þei may gete vp bryng hem to þe next rightes if þe witt where, and ellis þer þat he was last seye..and as oft as he fyndeþ and seeþ þat he is in þe ryghtes þe lymer shuld say lowde to tymes or thryes, ‘Cy va Cy va’ and rechace.
a1425—c1425(Hide quotations)
II. Legal, moral, or natural entitlement, and related uses. 8. Legal entitlement or justifiable claim (on legal or moral grounds) to have or obtain something, or to act in a certain way; the advantage or profit deriving from this. Now chiefly in to have as much (little, more, etc.) right cf. to have a right to at sense 9b and to have a (also no) right to (do something) at sense 9d. Cf. title n. 6, 7.See also birth-, common, divine right, at first word; also petition of right n. at petition n. Phrases 1.
8. Legal entitlement or justifiable claim (on legal or moral grounds) to have or obtain something, or to act in a certain way; the advantage or profit deriving from this. Now chiefly in to have as much (little, more, etc.) right cf. to have a right to at sense 9b and to have a (also no) right to (do something) at sense 9d. Cf. title n. 6, 7.See also birth-, common, divine right, at first word; also petition of right n. at petition n. Phrases 1. Formerly also in †to have good right .
OE Genesis A
(1931)
2153
Nelle ic þa rincas rihte benæman.
lOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos.
(Bodl.)
(2009)
I. xiii. 266
Ic eom swiðe ungemetlice ofwundrad..hwi ge swa ungemetlice wundrigen þara gimma oððe æniges þara deadlicena þinga þe gesceadwisnesse næfð, forðam hie mid nanum syhte [read ryhte] ne magon gearnigan þæt ge heora wundrigen.
c1275
(▸?a1200)
Laȝamon Brut
(Calig.)
(1978)
l. 14360
For he hefde rihte to þissere kine-riche.
?a1400
(▸a1338)
R. Mannyng Chron.
(Petyt)
ii. 57
Kyng Edward..had gode right vnto þe regalte.
1489
(▸a1380)
J. Barbour Bruce
(Adv.)
i. 46
Off kingis that aucht that reawte And mayst had rycht thair king to be.
c1510 Gesta Romanorum
(E.E.T.S.)
432
As moche ryght haue I in this tree as ye.
a1600 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie
(1648)
viii. sig. X2,
In case it doth happen, that without right of bloud a man in such wise be possessed.
1671 Milton Samson Agonistes 310
Who made our Laws to bind us, not himself, And hath full right to exempt Whom so it pleases him.
1709 Swift Baucis & Philemon 7
Against Dissenters [he] would repine, And stood up firm for Right divine.
1758 Johnson Idler 15 Apr. 9
Conscious dulness has little right to be prolix.
1828 Scott Fair Maid of Perth vii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. II. 203
But here comes one has good right to do our errand to him.
1868 J. H. Blunt Reformation Church of Eng. I. 191
It was might, not right, which had put her in the position she occupied.
1897 Daily News 11 Dec. 5/7
Right, in its personal application, is indeed never but the underside of duty; turn it uppermost, and everything becomes topsy-turvy.
1930 W. Faulkner As I lay Dying 195
He was a kind of tall, gaunted man sitting on the wagon, saying it was a public street and he reckoned he had as much right there as anybody.
1985 M. Engel Anita's Dance in R. Sullivan More Stories by Canad. Women
(1987)
24
He argued that, being male, he had more right to an education than she had.
2001 L. Block Hit List 229
A woman has as much right to get killed as anybody else.
OE—2001(Hide quotations)
9. a. A legal, equitable, or moral title or claim to the possession of property or authority, the enjoyment of privileges or immunities, etc.; (by extension) an entitlement considered to arise through natural justice (whether or not enshrined in legislation) and which is applicable to all members of a particular group. Cf. sense 11. Freq. in pl. and with modifying word.The rights commonly proposed by thinkers of the 17th cent. were natural rights, i.e. powers of acting in conformity with natural law. As belief in natural law fell away, moral rights and human rights, such as to life and liberty, came to be recognized as universal and to follow from being human.
b. A legal, equitable, or moral entitlement to (also rarely †for) something.Freq. in to have a right to .
c. With of and a noun or gerund. An entitlement to perform a specified action or to have a certain privilege, power, etc.In early use, the sense of of is equivalent to that of to in sense 9b.
d. With to-infinitive. A legal, equitable, or moral entitlement to do something. Chiefly in to have a (also no) right to (do something) .See also right to die n., right to work n.
a. A legal, equitable, or moral title or claim to the possession of property or authority, the enjoyment of privileges or immunities, etc.; (by extension) an entitlement considered to arise through natural justice (whether or not enshrined in legislation) and which is applicable to all members of a particular group. Cf. sense 11. Freq. in pl. and with modifying word.The rights commonly proposed by thinkers of the 17th cent. were natural rights, i.e. powers of acting in conformity with natural law. As belief in natural law fell away, moral rights and human rights, such as to life and liberty, came to be recognized as universal and to follow from being human. See conjugal, fishing, mineral, moral, State rights, etc.; animal, children's, civil, human, minority, natural rights, etc., at first element; also Bill of Rights n., Declaration of Rights at declaration n. 6, Petition of Rights at petition n. Phrases 1.
OE Agreement between Bp. Wærferð & Æðelwold (Sawyer 1441) in F. E. Harmer Sel. Eng. Hist. Docs. 9th & 10th Cent.
(1914)
24
Ða sona was Eðelwald þæs wordes þæt he no þes rihtes wiðsacan wolde.
a1400
(▸a1325)
Cursor Mundi
(Vesp.)
3544 (MED),
Þou sal neuer forth fra to night In þi forbirth do claim na right.
1489
(▸a1380)
J. Barbour Bruce
(Adv.)
i. 78
He suld that arbytre disclar,..And lat him ryng that had the rycht.
1491–2 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VII
(Electronic ed.)
Parl. Oct. 1491 §13. m. 6,
All suche right, title, interesse, cleyme..as they..have in any of the premisses.
1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. lii[i]. 188
Let the ryght go to the ryght.
1528–30 tr. T. Littleton Tenures
(new ed.)
f. xxxviiiiv,
The donee to whome the release was made than he had nothynge in the lande but onely a ryghte.
1612 Brechin Test. II. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue f. 213 v,
Gif my bearne die that ȝe will lat hir inioy the heretable richt.
1681 J. Dalrymple Inst. Law Scotl.
(1693)
ii. i. 161
All Real Rights are either that original Community of all Men,..Or the Interest which Possession giveth, or Property.
1706 G. Stanhope Paraphr. Epist. & Gospels III. 334
After all our boast of Settlements and Estates, nothing is or can be settled, but the Fee and Original Right in the great universal Lord.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 1
Strange!.. That one and twenty miles sailing..should give a man these rights.
1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop.
(ed. 2)
I. 172
The husband is entitled to all those rights and privileges which his wife would have had if she were alive, and which were annexed to her estate.
a1853 F. W. Robertson Lect.
(1858)
747
Rights are grand things,..but the way in which we expound those rights..seems to me to be the very incarnation of selfishness.
1893 H. D. Traill Social Eng. Introd. p. xiii,
Association, however, necessarily creates rights and duties; from rights and duties spring law and government.
1915 F. M. Hueffer Good Soldier iv. i. 226
She was really enraged when, after the invention was mature, he made a present to the War Office of the designs and the patent rights.
1963 B. Friedan Feminine Mystique iv. 83
It is a cliché of our own time that women spent half a century fighting for ‘rights’.
1989 Aircraft Illustr. Feb. 74/1
Included in the change-over was the entire responsibility for international air transport affairs and, in particular, the authority of negotiating traffic rights.
2006 Observer 9 Apr. i. 11/2
Universalists argue that certain rights and protections—freedom of speech, democracy, the rule of law—are common or, at least, should be available to all people.
OE—2006(Hide quotations)
b. A legal, equitable, or moral entitlement to (also rarely †for) something.Freq. in to have a right to . See also right to life n.
c1275
(▸?a1200)
Laȝamon Brut
(Calig.)
(1978)
13182
Oðere londes monie þe Iulius hafde an honde..he naueð nane rihte to.
c1325
(▸c1300)
Chron. Robert of Gloucester
(Calig.)
7495
A fals king þat nadde no riȝt to þe kinedom.
▸1357 J. Gaytryge Lay Folks' Catech.
(York Min.)
56 (MED),
The tend and the last is that we yerne noght..othir catell That we have no gode title ne no right to.
c1405
(▸c1375)
Chaucer Monk's Tale
(Hengwrt)
(2003)
l. 240
This kyng was slawe And Darius occupieth his degree Though he ther to hadde neither right ne lawe.
1530 St. German's Secunde Dyaloge Doctour & Student xxv. f. lxx,
The ioynt tenaunt hath ryght to the hole goodes by the tytle of the suruyuoure.
1567 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation
(1891)
I. viii. 9
War ȝour richt reknit to þe croun It mycht be laid with litill menss.
1646 H. Hammond View Exceptions to Visct. Falkland's Disc. Infallibilitie 99
The Turkes..are sensible of the right the Christians..haue for the free exercise of their Religion.
c1680 W. Beveridge Serm.
(1729)
I. 71
When he hath given it to us, we have a civil right to it.
1710 D. Manley Mem. Europe I. i. 19
He..is not permitted to fill those Vacancies (to which by the Law of War, he has an indisputed Right).
1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. xviii. §25
(note)
On various occasions you have a right to the services of the magistrate.
1831 D. Brewster Life I. Newton xii. 201
He asserted his own right to the discovery of the differential calculus.
1882 F. W. Farrar Early Days Christianity II. 536
[St Paul] maintained against them his independent right to the highest order of the Apostolate.
1915 W. Cather Song of Lark ii. xi. 236
They're just as clean as white people, and they have a perfect right to their own ways.
1962 S. Raven Close of Play iii. xii. 144
There was a girl here, James Escome's daughter, who said Hugo had taken money from them which he had no right to.
1994 Judicature Mar. 264/3
The vast majority of Americans believes that the right to privacy goes beyond this.
c1275—1994(Hide quotations)
c. With of and a noun or gerund. An entitlement to perform a specified action or to have a certain privilege, power, etc.In early use, the sense of of is equivalent to that of to in sense 9b. right of common, drip, primogeniture, reply, search, way, etc.: see at final element.
?a1400
(▸a1338)
R. Mannyng Chron.
(Petyt)
ii. 68 (MED),
Listen to my resoun, What right þat I haue of Inglond þe coroun After Edwardes dede.
1464 in J. T. Gilbert Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin
(1889)
I. 315
Apon the varyaunce of the ryght and tytle of the office of Recordowr.
1549 Act 3 & 4 Edw. VI c. 3 §2
Foreign Tenants have no greater Right of Commoning in the Wood..of any Lord, than the proper Tenants.
1579 Rastell's Expos. Termes Lawes
(new ed.)
f. 73v,
Right of entrie, is when one seised of lande in fee, is thereof disseysed: Nowe the disseisee hath right to enter into the lande, amd may so do when he wil: or els hee may haue a writ of right against the disseisour.
1611 Bible
(King James)
Tobit vi. 11,
I wil speake for her, that she may be giuen thee for a wife. For to thee doth the right of her appertaine.
1641 in J. E. T. Rogers Protests of Lords
(1875)
I. 6
We whose names are underwritten did disassent, and having, before the putting of the question, demanded our right of protestation, did accordingly make our protestation: That [etc.].
1673 W. Cave Primitive Christianity iii. v. 376
We admit them in the Church to a right of Communication to drink of the Cup of the Bloud of Christ.
1702 H. Dodwell Apol. in S. Parker tr. Cicero Five Bks. De Finibus sig. b5,
Authority..had undoubtedly the Right of Life and Death.
1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. 178
The alienee..hath not only a bare possession, but also an apparent right of possession.
1798 S. H. Wilcocke tr. J. S. Stavorinus Voy. to E. Indies 1768–71 II. 69
The farming of the wine consists herein, that whoever is the farmer has the exclusive right of selling wine and spirituous liquors in smaller quantities than by the half-awm.
1841 W. Spalding Italy & Ital. Islands I. 81
A certain part of the senators..possessed votes without the right of addressing the assembly.
1889 Law Times Rep. 58 163/2
The right of using this road constituted an easement of the farm.
1911 Catholic Encycl. XII. 268/1
Cyprian denies his right of appeal to Rome, and asserts the sufficiency of the African tribunal.
1937 W. Lewis Revenge for Love vii. vii. 401
She had read how they picketed the empty country in times of insurrection, stopping all travellers, with their haughty right of search.
1980 Ld. Denning Due Process of Law v. i. 168
‘Patrial’ is a word used to describe a Commonwealth citizen who has settled here lawfully for five years or more. He then acquires a ‘right of abode’ here.
2006 Independent 11 Aug. 33/4
The indigenous don't have title to land but under law have perpetual right of occupation.
?a1400—2006(Hide quotations)
d. With to-infinitive. A legal, equitable, or moral entitlement to do something. Chiefly in to have a (also no) right to (do something) .See also right to die n., right to work n.
[Compare Anglo-Norman aveir dreit a (13th cent. or earlier), aveir dreit de (15th cent. or earlier), Middle French avoir droit de (end of the 14th cent. or earlier).]
c1440
(▸?a1400)
Morte Arthure 1275 (MED),
Thane sall we rekken full rathe, whatt ryghte þat he claymes, Thus to ryot þis rewme and raunsone the pople!
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. clxi. 196,
I shulde make it good on you incontynent that ye haue no right to bere my deuyce.
1591 Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints 524
Some good Gentleman, that hath the right Unto his Church for to present a wight.
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 194
A Palisadoe..to hinder the fishing of those that have no right to fish.
1681 Dryden Absalom & Achitophel 13
If not; the People have a Right Supreme To make their Kings.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 145. ⁋4
He has no Right to act here as if he were in an empty Room.
1784 J. Potter Virtuous Villagers II. 128
Women claim a right to inspect into the indiscretions of their husbands.
1803 J. Mackintosh Wks.
(1846)
III. 242
He has a right to expect from me a faithful, a zealous, and a fearless defence.
1887 H. R. Haggard Allan Quatermain xvi. 224
We were officers..and in that capacity had a right to come and go unquestioned.
1908 E. F. Benson Climber 50
You have no more right to interfere with other people's minds than you have to cut their hair.
1964 E. Baker Fine Madness xviii. 217
If he had let his temper override his concern for his patient,..then he would no longer have the right to regard himself as a man of science.
2001 R. Jackson Rails across Mississippi xvii. 189
The court ruled that the railroad company had a right to lay the tracks where they were and to use them as they had been used in the past.
c1440—2001(Hide quotations)
e. A document substantiating a claim or title. Now chiefly (Austral.) in miner's right n. at miner n.1 Compounds 1.
1478 in Acts Lords of Council Civil Causes
(1839)
I. 4/2
To compere..wt þe evidentis & Richtis þt..he wil vse in þe mater.
1529 in J. Imrie et al. Burgh Court Bk. Selkirk
(1960)
102
That bath the parteis produce and schaw thair rychtis, clames and propertteis thai have in to the said tenement..and all utheris evidens nedfull.
1545 Reg. Privy Council Scotl. I. 9
The said Thomas..hes promittit to bring with him sik rychtis as tha will use quharby tha clame the sadis landis to pertene to thame.
1637 S. Rutherford Lett.
(1863)
I. lxxvii. 198
The man who will not be content with rights to bought land, except he get also the ridges and acres laid upon his back to carry home with him.
1693 Irvine Deeds
(MS)
in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue
(1990)
VII. 468/1
And haill rights and wrytes abovespecified.
1751 A. McDouall Inst. Laws Scotl. I. 331
Rights to lands, or other such deeds of importance, not subscribed by two notaries for the party, before four witnesses, are simply null.
1818 W. Johnson Rep. Cases Court of Chancery N.Y. 2 106
Van Rensselaer then had in his hands 63 soldiers' rights of land, purchased by Hart and Cumpston.
1870 J. O. Tucker Mute 42
But who are these to whom the digger yields Obedience prompt, when questioned for his ‘right’?
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right I. i. 1,
I am a real gold digger..and the holder of a Miner's Right, a wonderful document, printed and written on parchment.
1948 G. Farwell Down Argent Street 18
Stockie put the facts before him and together they applied..for a miner's right.
2006 M. Simms From Hustings to Harbour Views 61
Miners' rights replaced the much-hated licences.
1478—2006(Hide quotations)
f. A duty or obligation to do something. Now chiefly regional.
1752 T. Nugent tr. J. J. Burlamaqui Princ. Politic Law iv. ii. 245
We have a right to succour the distressed purely from humanity, but..we are not under a strict obligation of doing it. 'Tis a duty of an imperfect obligation, and which binds us only so far as we can practise it.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 172,
I have no right to maintain idle vagrants.
1808 E. Sleath Bristol Heiress I. 209,
I don't see as how women have any right to be trampled on.
1829 J. Hunter Hallamshire Gloss. (at cited word),
‘I have no right to pay at that toll-bar’, means, I am not obliged to pay there.
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northamptonshire Words II. (at cited word),
‘I have no right to pay’: i.e. I ought not to be compelled to pay.
1892 M. C. F. Morris Yorks. Folk-talk 82
‘To have a right’ is equivalent to ‘ought’ or ‘in duty bound’, in such a phrase as this—‘He' gotten a weyfe an' bairns, and he's a right to keep 'em.’
1900 Daily News 28 Sept. 9/4
The Guardians consider they have no right to find clothing for children, as if they are discharged, it is likely to be made away with.
1933 Amer. Speech 8 iii. 78,
I waited an hour for you. You had a right to tell me you would be late.
1980 J. Dillon in L. Michaels & C. B. Ricks State of Lang. 558
‘He had a right to help me’ (in the sense of ‘he had a duty’).
1752—1980(Hide quotations)
g. In pl. A title or authority to perform, publish, film, televise, or otherwise disseminate a particular work, event, etc. Cf. copyright n. 1.Freq. with distinguishing word, as book, digital, film, movie, performing, serial rights, etc.: see the first element.
[1818 R. V. Barnewall & E. H. Alderson Rep. Cases King's Bench I. 399
The object, therefore, of the eighth section is to extend to living writers the benefit of their unexpired rights.]
1822 Monthly Mag. May 354/1
Several cheap editions appeared. Mr. Lawrence sought of course to assert his authorial rights, by an appeal to the Court of Chancery.
1870 Athenæum 10 Sept. 341/3
They have bought the rights of several publishers who had paid Mr. Dickens considerable sums for advanced sheets.
1890 R. Kipling Let. in C. E. Carrington Rudyard Kipling
(1955)
vii. 162
Harper & Co. bought the serial rights for American and paid me.
1913 Writer's Mag. Dec. 263/1
Contracts with..today's most famous authors for the film rights to their..stories.
1939 D. L. Sayers In Teeth of Evidence 208
There were the touring rights..and film rights..and probably radio rights.
1953 E. Hyams Gentian Violet i. 9
The value of stage, film, broadcasting and other rights was astronomical.
1974 I. Parsons in A. Briggs Ess. Hist. of Publishing 49
Richardson had made binding agreements with a succession of Dublin booksellers under which he was to receive certain sums in return for exclusive rights.
2008 P. Nguyen in J. M. Cherbo et al. Understanding Arts & Creative Sector in U.S. x. 167
Corbis focused its attention on amassing the digital rights to renowned collections such as that of..the National Gallery.
1822—2008(Hide quotations)
h. In pl. Stock Market. Entitlement accorded to holders of existing shares in a company to acquire further shares at a special price; the value of this entitlement; (now usually) the stocks or shares offered in this way. See also rights issue n. at Compounds 2.
1916 L. Guenther Investm. & Speculation xxiii. 209
‘Rights’, a term frequently seen, denotes the market value of the privilege accorded to stockholders of record in a corporation to purchase additional shares it has authorized. In value these rights vary in accordance with the market premium the stock may command.
1930 Times 28 Mar. 21/2
The buying of the last-named stock being stimulated by expectations of an early offering of new stock giving ‘rights’ to stockholders.
1968 Sun 25 Oct. 10/5
With last night's price for the ordinary 18s. 9d., the ‘rights’ are worth a little over 2d. per share, which is not very much.
1991 Constr. Weekly 14 Aug. 12/4
The scene is hardly encouraging for Costain shareholders, who took up rights at 155p last April only to see the price quoted at some 20p less in the market now.
2008 Daily Tel. 10 June (Business section) b1/3
Barclays, Lloyds TSB, HBOS, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland have pledged to sub-underwrite £20m of the £258m placing, potentially leaving each with a 1.63pc stake in the buy-to-let lender should existing shareholders not take up their rights.
1916—2008(Hide quotations)
10.
a. Something that a person may properly claim, or that justly accrues or falls to one; a person's due. Also in fig. context.
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care
(Hatton)
(1871)
li. 397
Agife se wer his wife hire ryht [L. debitum] on hira gesinscipe.
OE Cynewulf Elene 909
Nu cwom elþeodig, þone ic ær on firenum fæstne talde, hafað mec bereafod rihta gehwylces, feohgestreona.
a1225
(▸?a1200)
MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies
(1873)
2nd Ser. 179
Unneðes hie winnen giet here louerdes rihttes.
c1300
(▸?a1200)
Laȝamon Brut
(Otho)
3942
Ich hou segge, cnihtes, Rome his oure rihtes [c1275 eowre irihte].
1340 Ayenbite
(1866)
41 (MED),
Þe rentes, þo offrendes, þe tendes, and þe oþre riȝtes of holy cherche.
?c1430
(▸?1383)
Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks.
(1871)
III. 328 (MED),
Siþ siche curatis don not here office in good lyvyng..þei ben þevys..for þei wiþdrawen riȝttis of holy Chirche.
a1450
(▸a1338)
R. Mannyng Chron.
(Lamb.)
(1887)
i. l. 6755
Ȝe..waytes vs wyþ sum tresons, ffor to wyþ-halden vs oure right.
1535 Bible
(Coverdale)
Jer. xxii. 16
Yee when he helped ye oppressed and poore to their right, then prospered he well.
c1585 R. Browne Answere to Cartwright 55
Wee shoulde not take our ryghte on a thyefe to iustyfie his theeuerye.
a1627 J. Fletcher & T. Middleton Nice Valour v. iii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag.
(1647)
sig. Xxx3/1,
Honour and admiration are her rights.
1655 T. Moffett & C. Bennet Healths Improvem. iii. 13
Let us not but give the Devil his right.
1697 Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis xi, in tr. Virgil Wks. 573
He swims before my sight, Inexorable Death; and claims his right.
1708 E. Arwaker Truth in Fiction iii. lviii. 276
The first Lord of the rich Soil..was forc'd to Abdicate: Asham'd thereat, he soon retir'd from Sight, And durst no more appear to claim his Right.
1782 F. Burney Cecilia V. x. iii. 251
He has been advised by his friends to claim his rights.
1810 Scott Lady of Lake iii. 122
Grief claimed his right, and tears their course.
1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds iii. 41
Our provisions are the right of those who work for them.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues
(ed. 2)
IV. 35
We cannot help acknowledging that what is right for us is the right and inheritance of others.
1910 R. Dehan One Braver Thing lxviii. 563
She had claimed her right. The man was hers, though she might never be his.
1970 Black Belt Apr. 53/2
Now, some years later, the young man was planning to claim his right as heir to the Shogunate.
2000 J. Miller James II
(new ed.)
v. 56
For his brother the crown was his right and he knew none more worthy of it.
eOE—2000(Hide quotations)
†b. Hunting. In pl. Part of the quarry given to the hounds (in quot. c1330: to a servant of the hunt) as their share or due. Obs.
c1330
(▸?a1300)
Sir Tristrem
(1886)
l. 496 (MED),
Þe forster for his riȝtes Þe left schulder ȝaf he.
a1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game
(Digby)
xxxiii,
When þe houndes beth þus enquyrered, þe lymmers shulde haue both þe shuldres for þeire reghtes.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux
(1882–7)
lii. 177,
I can chase the herte & the wyld bore, and blowe the pryce, and serue the houndes of theyr ryghtes.
c1330—a1533(Hide quotations)
†c. A territory, estate, dominion. In later use: (U.S.) a defined share of the land at the disposal of a town. Obs.
?a1400
(▸a1338)
R. Mannyng Chron.
(Petyt)
ii. 10 (MED),
Whan he had regned foure ȝere, one ryued vpon his right, A duke of Danmark.
1596 Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. viii. sig. S8v,
Sir Artegall..Taking with him, as his vanquisht thrall, That Damzell, led her to the Souldans right.
1635 in Watertown Rec. I. i. 2
No Foreainer..shall have any benefit either of Commonage, or Land undivided..except that they buy a man's right wholly in the Towne.
1674 in J. Wilson Reg. Synod of Dunblane
(1877)
105
[The Synod's] determinacioun is that both the persones who buried within the rycht of other men and these who raised the corps be cited unto and censured.
1750 in New Hampsh. Probate Rec. III. 574
We Set off to Benjamin Smith..one whole Right in Canterbury.
1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont 337
In the grants of land that were made by him, there were three rights in each township reserved for religious purposes.
?a1400—1794(Hide quotations)
d. Hunting. In pl. A stag's full complement of antlers, consisting of the brow, bay, and tray. Cf. crocket n.1 3.
c1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game
(Vesp. B.xii)
(1904)
79 (MED),
If lak eny of his ryghtes, ȝe mot abate so many in þe toppe.
c1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game
(Vesp. B.xii)
(1904)
78 (MED),
If he be fourched on þe ryghte side and lak nouȝt of his ryghtes bineth, [etc.].
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Marque,
A deere, which hath more rights, or branches, on th' one side then on th' other.
a1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd i. ii. 15 in Wks.
(1640)
III
A head, Large, and well beam'd: with all rights somm'd, and spred.
1742 Coles's Dict. Eng.-Lat.
(ed. 14)
(at cited word),
The deer's-head with all its rights, arborea cervi cornua.
1812 Ld. Graves Let. to Ld. Ebrington Stag-hunting Establishm. Devon 2 June
(1814)
14
His brow, bay, and tray antlers are termed his Rights.
a1832 Gentl. Recr. in Encycl. Metrop. XX. 416/2
You must say he beareth..a false Right on his near horn, for all that the Beam bears are called Rights.
1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports i. x. 82
The three first are termed the rights; the two points, the crockets.
1884 R. Jefferies Red Deer ii. 142
To be runnable or warrantable, a stag..must bear his ‘rights’ (that is, brow, bay, and tray), and two on top.
1909 P. J. S. Perceval London's Forest v. 136
The animal was a stag of six years, for its horns have all their ‘rights’ and ‘two on top’, the technical terms for its antlers and the points at the top of the horn.
1982 C. De Lint Greenmantle
(1998)
52
He was huge, more the size of a small horse than a buck, a Royal by his antlers, having three tops and all his rights—brow, bay and tray tines.
c1425—1982(Hide quotations)
11. With possessive adjective or genitive: a person's (also in extended use, a thing's) entitlement or claim to something, now esp. political or civil privileges or liberties. Now usu. in pl. (freq. in rights of man, rights of woman (also women) . See also women's rights n.
c1300 St. Thomas Becket
(Laud)
l. 229 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary
(1887)
113 (MED),
Swyþe wel bi-gan þis Ercedekne holi churche bi-lede And stifliche heold op hire riȝte.
a1325
(▸c1250)
Gen. & Exod.
(1968)
l. 3714
Ðe lond is god, Ful of erf..Oc burges stronge and folc v-frigt, Stalwurði to weren here rigt.
1389 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds
(1870)
30 (MED),
Yey schal saue ye kynge hys rythe, and non prejudys don a-geyn his lawe in yes ordenaunce.
1425 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI
(Electronic ed.)
Parl. Apr. 1425 §12. m. 4,
Þe pretensed ryght of my said lord mareschall.
1484 Caxton tr. G. de la Tour-Landry Bk. Knight of Tower
(1971)
lxxxxii. 124
Whanne the kyng was dede, somme wold haue taken her ryght fro her.
a1525 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS
(1923)
I. 192/23
Throw the titill and richt of Edmond Irnsydis sonis dochter.
1558 C. Goodman How Superior Powers 180
It is..a great discouraging to the people..when they are not defended..in their right and title.
1600 Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream i. i. 92
Lysander, yeeld Thy crazed title to my certaine right.
1670 T. Hobbes Dial. Com. Laws
(1681)
37
My Right is a Liberty left me by the Law to do any thing which the Law forbids me not.
1708 True Characters 9
She..is an Earnest Contender for the Rights of Woman-kind.
1757 W. Wilkie Epigoniad i. 14
In vain for Polynices' right they bled.
1758 J. Dalrymple Ess. Feudal Property
(ed. 2)
v. 186
When many of the military came to be converted into soccage or burgage fiefs, the rights of women came to be attended to, and regarded.
1791 T. Paine
(title)
Rights of man: being an answer to Mr. Burke's attack on the French revolution.
1792 M. Wollstonecraft
(title)
A vindication of the rights of woman; with strictures on political and moral subjects.
1799 H. More Strict. Mod. Syst. Fem. Educ.
(ed. 4)
I. 147
To these have been opposed, with more presumption than prudence, the rights of woman.
1819 J. Mackintosh Parl. Suffrage in Wks.
(1846)
III. 232
The enlightened friends of the rights of the people.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xii. 222
Human nature at last asserted its rights.
1878 R. W. Dale Lect. Preaching
(ed. 3)
ix. 291
Respect the rights of the past: assert the rights of the present.
1916 H. Ellis Ess. in War-time viii. 88
The advocates of Woman's Rights have seldom been met by the charge that they were unjustly encroaching on the Rights of Man.
1940 C. Stead Man who loved Children iii. 92
He talks about human equality, the rights of man, nothing but that.
1990 M. Strand Continuous Life 16
To be in love, to have a young pretty wife and children of his own, was not a crime or a deception, but his right.
2006 Daily Tel. 5 Dec. 18/8
Minority Indo-Fijians..said a coup would give them back their rights.
c1300—2006(Hide quotations)
†III. That which is straight.
12. A plumb line. Obs. rare.
eOE Cleopatra Gloss. in J. J. Quinn Minor Lat.-Old Eng. Glossaries in MS Cotton Cleopatra A.III
(Ph.D. diss., Stanford Univ.)
(1956)
129
Perpendiculo, reht. [L. ut a catholicae fidei perpendiculo ad tortas simulacrorum caeremonias vergeretur.]
eOE—eOE(Hide quotations)
13. The direct road or way. Cf. on right at Phrases 3. Obs. rare.
OE Stowe Psalter xxv. 12
Pes meus stetit in directo : eart [sic] min stod on rihte [OE Lambeth Psalter on rihtum wege].
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 4189,
I man pas to the King of Farie, Or ellis the rycht to hell.
a1616 Shakespeare King John
(1623)
i. i. 170
Something about a little from the right, In at the window or else ore the hatch.
OE—a1616(Hide quotations)
14. A facet of a diamond. Obs. rare—1.
1675 London Gaz. No. 1050/4
A short hart Diamond,..4 Rights and the Coller [read Collet] pollished, the Stone being about half made.
1675—1675(Hide quotations)
IV. In senses overlapping with those of rite n. In early use perhaps showing an aphetic form of Old English geriht i-riht n. In later use probably largely showing errors for rite n., as a result of semantic association between the two words.
15.
a. Chiefly in religious contexts: = rite n. (in various senses).With intentional wordplay in quot. 1600.
[OE Poenitentiale Pseudo-Egberti
(Laud)
Se man..bið æwbreca: ne sylle him nan preost husl ne nan ðara gerihta þe cristenum men gebyreð.]
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron.
(Laud)
(Peterborough interpolation)
anno 1070
Þa munecas..dydan Cristes þeudom in þære cyrce, þet ær hæfde standen fulle seofeniht forutan ælces cynnes riht.
1430–40 Lydgate tr. Bochas Fall of Princes
(1494)
sig. pv,
Yet feynyngly she hath out wayes sought For him to holde solempne and royall Lyke Grekys rightes a feest funerall.
1502 Chron. Eng.
(new ed.)
i. vi. sig. niij/1,
And vpon saynt Iohn daye Euangelyst that came next, the kyng receyued his ryghtes of holy chirche, as it befalleth to euery crysten man.
c1535 Ploughman's Tale ii. sig. B iiv,
Ayenst god they vsen yuell rightes.
1600 Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iv. i. 132
No doubt, they rose vp earely, to obserue The right of May.
1637 Milton Comus 5
Come let us our rights begin 'Tis onely day-light that makes Sin.
1709 M. Prior Carmen Seculare
(new ed.)
in Poems Several Occasions 140
Numa the Rights of strict Religion knew, On ev'ry Altar laid the Incense due.
1865 C. J. Lever Luttrell i,
I sent for you to administer to her the rights of her Church.
1902 New Rev. 12 230
The embellishments of all ecclesiastical last rights and absolutions were done with.
2007 R. Strachan And Greatest of these is Love 237
Father Ian then asked if the family would like mum to have her last rights.
lOE—2007(Hide quotations)
†b. Christian Church. Usu. in pl. = last rites n. at last adv., adj., and n.4 Special uses. Obs.
[OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser.
(Cambr. Gg.3.28)
Sixtus biscop..biscop gehadode ðe mihte behwyrfan ða halgan martiras mid gastlicum sangum and godes gerihtum.]
c1300 St. Wulstan
(Laud)
l. 200 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary
(1887)
76
Seue niȝht bi-fore þat he deide, his breþren he liet fette alle, And liet him all is riȝhtes do.
c1330 Roland & Vernagu l. 372 (MED),
Þer fel a miracle of a kniȝt, Wiche þat was to deþ y-diȝt..Er he dyd he hadde his riȝt.
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie
(Ashm.)
(1894–1988)
173 (MED),
First he schal make him haue hise riȝtis of holy chirche & lete him make his testament.
▸a1470 Malory Morte Darthur
(Winch. Coll.)
884
Lat me nat dye in thys foreyst but brynge me to the abbey here besyde, that I may be confessed and have my ryghtes.
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure
(1845)
xli. 204
Of holy church with all humilite My rightes I toke.
1565 T. Harding Answere to Iuelles Chalenge f. 30,
What if foure or fyue of sundry houses in a sycknes tyme being at the pointe of death in a parish, requyre to haue their rightes or they departe?
1798 in J. O. Payne Old Eng. Catholic Missions
(1889)
8 July 44
Rob. Johnson departed this life, after having received all the ‘rights’ of the Church.
c1300—1798(Hide quotations)
V. Senses relating to position or direction. (Opposed to left.)
16.
a. The right-hand side, part, or direction: chiefly with reference to local position from the point of observation, though also with reference to relative position from the perspective of the object observed. Freq. with the or possessive adjective, and in on (also to) the (or my, your, etc.) right . Cf. right hand n. 2, right side n. 3.
c1225
(▸?c1200)
Sawles Warde
(Bodl. 34)
(1938)
22
Þe middel sti bituhhe riht & luft.
▸a1382 Bible
(Wycliffite, E.V.)
(Douce 369(1))
(1850)
Prov. iv. 27
Ne bowe thou doun to the riȝt, [a1425 L.V. the riȝtside; L. dexteram] ne to the lift.
a1400
(▸a1325)
Cursor Mundi
(Vesp.)
2463 (MED),
Queder þou ches, on right or left, I sal ta me þat þou haues left.
1594 R. Carew tr. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne iv. 141
Part on the right, part on the left this band Siedgeth it selfe, their wreakfull king before, Pluto sits in the mids.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost vi. 558
Vangard, to Right and Left the Front unfould.
1683 A. Wood Life & Times
(1894)
III. 57
The duke, after he was presented, took his place on the right of the vicechancellor; the rest, after presentation, on the left.
1707 J. Freind Acct. Earl of Peterborow's Conduct 211
Take to the Mountains on the right with all your Men.
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews vii. 130
He came to a Place, where by keeping the extremest Track to the Right, it was just barely possible for a human Creature to miss his Way.
1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 6
Far to the right, where Appennine ascends.
1823 F. Clissold Narr. Ascent Mont Blanc 11
A precipitous declivity, which shelved down, upon our right, in one plane of smooth rock.
1856 F. L. Olmsted Journey Slave States 61
You'll find a path going square off to the right.
1894 Mrs. H. Ward Marcella II. 306
Benny appeared..elbowing the Jewesses to right and left.
1939 G. Greene Confid. Agent ii. i. 182
Mr. K bounded from right to left and back again: people turned round and stared at him.
1957 P. Kemp Mine were of Trouble ix. 173
A minute later bursts of tracer flew over us from high ground on our right.
1989 Which? Jan. 22/1
As you can see from the picture on the right, it doesn't really go with the character of the house.
2008 S. Faulks Devil may Care iii. 39
Bond smacked the footbrake, dropped the wheel to his right, then hauled up the handbrake.
c1225—2008(Hide quotations)
b. The right wing or flank of an army, etc.; the right-hand end of a line of troops.
1694 E. D'Auvergne Hist. Campagne Spanish Netherlands 97
The Bavarian Foot and Dragoons..were incamped upon the heighth of Hooghleode, where they flank'd our Right, and cover'd the Electors Quarters.
1707 London Gaz. No. 4334/4
Our right was then at Louvignies, and our Left at Naast.
1743 in Buccleuch MSS
(Hist. MSS Comm.)
(1899)
I. 401
Their right reaching to the village called Keldersbach.
1813 R. Wilson Private Diary I. 361
The enemy have their right appuied upon these mountains.
1828 Scott Fair Maid of Perth xi, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 299
Four of them occupied the right of the first line.
1897 R. S. S. Baden-Powell Matabele Campaign viii. 218
The Cape Boys had worked their way round to the enemy's right.
1944 W. H. Herbert Fighting Joe Hooker v. 84
By 10:30 Lieutenant McAlester was back with the word that it might be possible to get around the enemy's right.
2009 E. S. Rafuse Antietam, South Mountain, & Harpers Ferry vi. 55
Dole's right advanced to a position on the southern edge of the Cornfield next to the East Woods.
1694—2009(Hide quotations)
c. Polit. Freq. with capital initial and the. (a) Those members of comparatively conservative opinions in a (European) Continental legislature, by custom seated on the right of the president (now hist.); the views and objectives of such members; (b) any party or political group favouring conservative views; the area of the political spectrum occupied by such groups (freq. modified, as centre right, extreme right, etc.); (also) the more conservative section of a philosophical, religious, etc., group; those who hold conservative views considered collectively. Cf. also New Right n., right wing n. 2, centre n.1 16, left n. 6, hard right at hard adj. 22c.The use originates with the seating positions of the 1789 French National Assembly: see right adj. 15.
1822 W. C. Somerville Lett. from Paris xviii. 300
As it was evident that the ministerial party, or the centre, was a factitious corps, created by the government, and no longer a majority, there was an absolute necessity for the ministry to identify themselves with the right or the left.
1828 Morning Chron. 19 Jan. 2/3
Messrs. Delalot, de Labourdonnaye, and Hyde de Neuville, representatives of the extreme right.
1856 R. H. Lee Mem. Life H. Preble v. 80
The views of the new minister were of course distasteful to the extreme right.
1887 Harper's Mag. Jan. 180/1
The political differences between the two great parties, the parliamentary Right and Left.
1917 M. Farbman Russian Revol. 31
The counter-revolutionaries of the Right.
1940 W. Temple Thoughts in War-time iii. 24
The Right tends to have a fuller sense of historical continuity than the Left.
1969 A. G. Frank Lat. Amer. xix. 316
The current wave of government repression against the Left need not mean a permanent move to the Right.
1974 J. White tr. N. Poulantzas Fascism & Dictatorship iv. 224
In the struggle against the Left Opposition..the Comintern took a turn to the ‘right’.
1996 Daily Express 1 Mar. 14/2
After 13 years in the grip of socialism, the country will move firmly to the Right to be run by a husband-and-wife team.
2000 D. L. Dabney in A. Hastings et al. Oxf. Compan. Christian Thought 445/1
Early on he was criticized by the right as too politically radical and the left as too theologically conservative.
1822—2000(Hide quotations)
d. Orig. U.S. In various team sports: the right side or wing of the field of play. Also: a player occupying this position. Cf. right wing n. 3.inside, outside right: see at first word.
1867 Ball Players' Chron. 8 Aug. 6/3
The nine will be as follow:..Peters, right.
1892 College Index
(Auburn, Alabama)
Nov. 27
Mr. G. O. Shackleford, the Athens left guard, who gave our right so much trouble at the match game in Atlanta last February has entered college here.
1934 in B. James England v Scotland
(1969)
152
Attack after attack on the English goal. Superb work by that sprite of a player, Cook, on the extreme right.
1949 Telephone-Reg.
(McMinnville, Oregon)
4 Aug. 2/1
Jimmy ‘Whiskers’ Beard then drove both in with a single to right.
1976 Billings
(Montana)
Sunday Gaz. 20 June 4- e/1
Garry Maddox doubled into left-center and scored on a triple to right by Tim McCarver.
2005 Kerryman 11 Aug. (Sport section) 7/1
Donnacha Ryan swung over a corner from the right.
1867—2005(Hide quotations)
17.
a. The right-hand way or road; a right-hand turn (cf. to hang a right at hang v. Additions).
1735 J. Kirby Suffolk Trav. 32
At 1 m. 3 f. leave the right which goes to Sutton Church.
1829 R. W. H. Hardy Trav. Interior Mexico viii. 155
You will come to three roads; take the middle one, which will bring you to two others; you must take the right.
1867 E. Schuyler tr. I. S. Turgenef Fathers & Sons xxii. 167
The coachman having changed the horses remounted the box and asked if he must take the right or the left.
1906 Interstate Automobile Tourists' Guide 2 127
Continue straight ahead, cross bridge and take first right.
1969 D. E. Westlake Up your Banners v. 35
The light turned green and she made a right.
1981 G. V. Higgins Rat on Fire xiii. 96
Leo Proctor took a right in Dorchester Avenue and drove the van south.
2004 M. Lucas & D. Williams Little Britain Compl. Scripts & That: Series I Episode 3. 91
When you see the hanging tree, take a left. When you come to the old well, take a right.
1735—2004(Hide quotations)
b. Chiefly Boxing. The right hand, with which a punch or blow is delivered (with possessive adjective); a punch or blow delivered with the right hand. Cf. roundhouse n. 6b, to swing a right at swing v.1 Additions b.
1804 Times 8 Aug. 3/5
Being prepared to strike him again with his right, [Sam] desisted from it on seeing him about to fall.
1814 Times 9 Dec. 3/2
The superior strength of the Baker drove Sam against the ropes, and there putting in a right and left, the Jew fell.
1894 A. Morrison Tales Mean Streets 138
It was a hard fight, and both the lads were swinging the right again and again for a knock-out.
1898 Daily News 24 Nov. 7/3
Sharkey put over a straight right on Corbett's nose, seeming to bring blood.
1898 J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 2
That on'y made Bill madder 'n ever, an' 'e lands aht wiv 'is right, but the Gent. jest ketched 'is arm.
1930 Daily Express 6 Oct. 11/5
The blow with which he dropped Compere for the full count was a right to the jaw.
1958 Health & Strength 19 June 31/1
He just let rip with left and right in a steady stream of hooks, jabs and uppercuts.
1972 J. Mosedale Football iv. 49
Bob Snyder..threw a roundhouse right that knocked Matheson out the door.
1999 Y. M. Murray What it takes to get to Vegas xiii. 232
He saw the hole and coldcocked Billy with a right to the chin and a follow-up tattoo between the eyes.
1804—1999(Hide quotations)
c. A shoe, boot, etc., for the right foot; (also) a glove for the right hand. Cf. left n. 3.
[1601 A. Munday tr. J. Teixeira Strangest Aduenture sig. L.2,
I pulled off the right, and presently passed my hand along the toes.]
1825 W. Hone Every-day Bk.
(1826)
I. 515
It belonged to the left foot of the wearer; so..this is proof that ‘rights and lefts’ are only ‘an old, old, very old’ fashion revived.
1864 F. Locker My Mistress's Boots vii,
Cinderella's lefts and rights To Geraldine's were frights.
1884 Harper's Mag. Dec. 117/1,
I didn't want two rights [sc. gloves].
1918 M. R. Rinehart 23½ Hours' Leave iii. 59
We haven't anything! No guns worth the name, not enough shoes. Why, a fellow in my company's wearing two rights at this minute.
1963 D. Ricky Forty Miles Day vii. 124
The shoes were not only of poor material, but they were fashioned so crudely as to make rights and lefts almost indistinguishable.
2006 R. Liparulo Germ 423
He passed two large work gloves to Stephen. ‘Two rights, I'm afraid.’
1825—2006(Hide quotations)
d. A right-handed pair of scissors or shears; (also) a pair of scissors modified to cut on the right. Now rare.
1846 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. II. 911
Nail scissors are made in pairs, and formed in opposite ways, or as ‘rights and lefts’, so that they may suit the respective hands.
1864 O. Byrne Pract. Metal-worker's Asst. xx. 357
Therefore nail scissors are made in pairs, and formed in opposite ways, or as ‘rights and lefts’, so that they may suit the respective hands.
1908 Amer. Jrnl. Surg. July 195/1
(caption)
Two of the modifications of the author's curved automatic tonsil scissors—rights and lefts, with shoulder lever and sliding bolts.
1846—1908(Hide quotations)
e. Shooting. A shot fired with the right barrel of a double-barrelled shotgun; a creature hit by such a shot. Cf. right and left adv. 2.
1864 Once Week 30 July 149/2
We had the good fortune to do a right and a left, both birds being killed dead.
1893 H. A. Macpherson et al. Partridge ii. iii. 131
Now thoroughly awake, you kill three neatly, quickly followed by a smart right and left—one in front and one behind—at a brace that come straight at you.
1908 R. H. Benson Conventionalists i. iii. 82
On Saturday he had killed three rights and lefts, and had not missed more than one single bird flying alone.
1910 Blackwood's Mag. Jan. 140/1,
I got a right and left with the big gun.
1958 M. Brander Roughshooter's Sport xx. 217
When..a covey of grouse was flushed.., I only managed to drop one bird. The others, however, performed more than adequately, each bringing down a right and left.
1974 Field 5 Dec. 1311/1
Congratulate anyone on a good piece of dog work..as one would if he achieved a right and left.
1990 M. K. Brook Gameshooter's Pocket Guide
(2005)
10
‘A right and a left at woodcock is worthy of a knighthood,’ said a beater who turned out to be a local doctor.
1864—1990(Hide quotations)
f. A brick designed to be used at a right-turning corner of a building. rare.
1884 C. T. Davis Pract. Treat. Manuf. Bricks iii. 78
Bricks..are termed ‘rights’ and ‘lefts’ when they are so moulded or ornamented that they cannot be used for any corner.
1901 Forged Steel Water-tube Marine Boilers 39,
8 fire bricks, 4 rights and 4 lefts,..to replace broken bricks between furnace doors.
1884—1901(Hide quotations)
g. Surfing. A wave that breaks from left to right from the surfer's perspective.
1968 Surfer Mag. Jan. 73/1
Eamonn Matthews..caught some nice rights.
1970 Surf '70
(N.Z.)
44/2
There were good lefts and occasional rights with Ted Spencer carving turns people thought were impossible.
1986 Surf Scene July 16/2,
20 minutes of good hard surfing, head high waves, peaks peeling off one brother going one way on a right the other on a left.
1990 Surfer July 109/3
The swell had gone northeast..sometimes producing better lefts than rights!
1968—1990(Hide quotations)
Phrases
P1. (In branch I.)
a. With verbs.
(a) to do (a person) right .
(i) to treat (a person) justly or fairly; to act dutifully towards. In Old English also †to do right with (a person) .In modern use right may sometimes be interpreted as an adverb.
OE Agreement between Abp. Æðelnoð & Toki (Sawyer 1464) in A. J. Robertson Anglo-Saxon Charters
(1956)
154
Se arcebiscop..sæde þæt he riht wið hine gedon hæfde þæt he sylf him for ðam cwyde secgean wolde.
?c1200 Ormulum
(Burchfield transcript)
l. 6258
Ȝiff he doþ þe laȝhe. & rihht Þa wurrþ he þaer þin broþerr.
c1275
(▸?a1200)
Laȝamon Brut
(Calig.)
(1963)
l. 1256
Heo was swa swiðe wel bi-þouht, þat ælche monne heo dude riht [c1300 Otho riþt].
1483
(▸1413)
Pilgrimage of Soul
(Caxton)
i. ii. 3
Come fast before the Juge, and he shal do the ryght.
a1627 T. Middleton Women beware Women i. i, in 2 New Playes
(1657)
89
What ableness have you to do her right then In maintenance fitting her birth and vertues?
1787 ‘Polly Pindar’ Mousiad i. (title-page),
Let me see wherein My Pen hath wrong'd him: if it do him Right, Then he hath wrong'd himself.
1842 R. Browning Cavalier Tunes ii. i,
King Charles, and who'll do him right now?
1879 H. N. Brown Sunday Stories xiv. 180
He did not rebel against these misfortunes which he could not cure, but submitted quietly to all his afflictions, believing that God would do him right in the end.
1919 H. Whitehead Business Career Peter Flint xv. 285
At this Henry gave me a card to a firm of furniture dealers and said if I gave it to them they would do me right.
1973 Jet 15 Mar. 50/2
I'll play all right but I just want that man to do me right.
1991 R. R. McCammon Boy's Life iv. ii. 358
‘Motherfucker better do me right,’ she said to a dark-haired girl.
OE—1991(Hide quotations)
†(ii) to ensure that (a guest, etc.) has a full drink (also to do right ). Cf. reason n.1 7b. Obs.
1600 Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. iii. 73
Why now you haue done me right.
1605 G. Chapman Al Fooles v. i,
Fill's a fresh pottle, by this light, Sir Knight, You shall do right.
1624 P. Massinger Bond-man ii. iii. sig. E3v,
These Glasses containe nothing; doe me right, As e're you hope for liberty.
[1889 J. G. Austin Standish of Standish xviii. 202
Both beer and strong waters were freely set out upon the cabin table, nor did even the Elder refuse to do him right in a parting glass of Nantz.]
1600—1624(Hide quotations)
(b) to do right : to do what is correct, just, or honourable; to act rightly.
a1425
(▸a1325)
Cursor Mundi
(Galba)
l. 29167
Þam aw here to do right.
1483
(▸1413)
Pilgrimage of Soul
(Caxton)
iv. xxii. f. lxix,
Yf thou er this tyme haddest done right.
1611 Bible
(King James)
Gen. xviii. 25
Shall not the Iudge of all the earth doe right?
1619 D. Calderwood Solution Dr. Resolutus i. 6
Our vulgar translators have done right in expressing Christs gesture by the word, sitting.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra
(1772)
I. xii. 76
It is not that you do wrong by design, but that you should never do right by mistake.
1792 E. Burke Let. 6 Nov.
(1968)
VII. 273
We must do right, and do it simply and Vigorously and trust to Providence to the rest.
1810 M. Brunton Self-control II. xvii. 67
‘Oh no! no!’ cried Laura, ‘I must leave you while yet I have the power to do right.’
1881 H. James Portrait of Lady II. ii. 22
Why should I be so afraid of not doing right? As if it mattered to the world whether I do right or wrong!
1970 N. Bawden Birds on Trees Prol. 1,
‘I hope we've done right,’ Clara Tilney said.
2002 A. A. Kass Perfect Gift v. vi. 384
‘And yet have I done right? Have I done right?’ said the bishop, striding up and down the chamber.
a1425—2002(Hide quotations)
(c) to do right by : to treat fairly or honourably; to do one's duty by. Cf. do v. 4a(b).
1810 C. Cornstock Ess. on Duty Parents & Children iii. 143
Parents should constantly remember, that they are under indispensable obligations, to do right by their children, to be attentive to their wants.
1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede xxiv. 243
We b'lieve you mean to do right by everybody, an' 'ull make no man's bread bitter to him if you can help it.
1907 Los Angeles Times 29 Aug. 7/1
He said he would look after me all right. He promised to give him $200 for a trust deed, and I thought he was doing right by me.
1994 Denver Post 5 June 9/2
The team has chosen to do right by the city and its citizens.
2004 S. Brown White Hot 21
That gal won't see one red cent of my money. Not unless she does right by you and gives you a divorce.
1810—2004(Hide quotations)
†(d) to have the right : to have reason or fact on one's side. Cf. sense 3b. Obs.
a1450 Generides
(Pierpont Morgan)
(1865)
5533,
I haue the right and he the wrong.
c1485
(▸1456)
G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys
(2005)
169
Than js jt to declare, quha has the rycht.
1556 J. Heywood Spider & Flie lvii. sig. Bb,
Who euer had the right, the flies the feeld loste.
1636 A. Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae
(new ed.)
892
Yea, hee should rather die than yeeld Though Reason had the right.
1828 Scott Fair Maid of Perth ii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 64
It is not my part..to decide who had the right or wrong in the present brawl.
a1450—1828(Hide quotations)
(e) two wrongs don't make a right and variants: one wrongful act does not justify another.
1768 C. Howard Thoughts, Ess., & Maxims 69
(heading)
Two wrongs will not make one right.
1822 Niles' Weekly Reg. 30 Nov. 198/2
Two wrongs do not make a right—but, if war is allowable, it establishes the principle of retaliation and justifies a resistance of violence by violence.
1878 Alberta Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 15 522
Reference was made..to small doses of aloes preventing the cathartic action of belladonna. This may appear paradoxical, like two wrongs making a right.
1922 A. Bennett Mr. Prohack xiv. 145
Perhaps two wrongs don't make a right, but five hundred wrongs positively must make a right.
1997 L. Lippman Baltimore Blues v. 40
Two wrongs don't make a right.
1768—1997(Hide quotations)
b. With prepositions.
(a) at all rights (also Sc. at all right): at all points, in every respect. Obs.
c1405
(▸c1385)
Chaucer Knight's Tale
(Hengwrt)
(2003)
l. 994
An hundred knyghtes Armed for listes vp at alle rightes [v.rr. vp al rightes, vppon all rightes].
1487
(▸a1380)
J. Barbour Bruce
(St. John's Cambr.)
x. 312
The castele..wes varnyst vondir wele With men and wittale at all Richt.
a1500
(▸?a1475)
Guy of Warwick
(Cambr. Ff.2.38)
2050 (MED),
Tho came Tyrrye of Gormoyse..Wyth an hundurde of gode knyghtys, That were armed at all ryghtys.
1572 Taill of Rauf Coilȝear
(1882)
688
Greit Squechonis on hicht..Reulit at all richt Endlang the hall.
c1405—1572(Hide quotations)
(b) at one's right : to the full, completely. Obs. rare.
a1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game
(Digby)
vi,
Þen oþer teth commeth to hem alle newe... And whan þei be wexe vp agaynn at hir right, þen þei..gothe at hir aventure.
c1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game
(Vesp. B.xii)
(1904)
32 (MED),
Hure teeth be wexen vp al at hure ryght after þe othere smale teth which they had first.
a1425—c1425(Hide quotations)
(c) Sc. at right (also rarely at rights): properly, well, aright. Obs.
1487
(▸a1380)
J. Barbour Bruce
(St. John's Cambr.)
xiv. 171
That nycht the scottis Cumpany War wachit richt weill, all at richt.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid iii. vi. 22
All..godlie wychtis Schew we suld haue a prosper rais at rychtis.
1578 J. Rolland Seuin Seages 2
Ane Empreour was..Quhilk hecht to Name Pontianus at richt.
?a1600
(▸a1500)
Sc. Troy Bk.
(Cambr.)
l. 584 in C. Horstmann Barbour's Legendensammlung
(1882)
II. 227
He þame [sc. the planets] maide..To kepe þar kindely course at rytht.
1487—?a1600(Hide quotations)
†(d) at rights: into a proper condition or order. Cf. to rights at Phrases 1b(m)(i). Obs.
a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments
(1642)
481
To set all things at rights as at first they were being no work..for the arme of man.
a1641—a1641(Hide quotations)
(e) by right: justly; rightfully; if right were done. Cf. by rights at Phrases 1b(g). In early use also †by good right.
?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron.
(Laud)
(Peterborough contin.)
anno 1140
Eustace..wende to bigæton Normandi þærþurh, oc he spedde litel & be gode rihte, for he was an yuel man.
c1350
(▸a1333)
William of Shoreham Poems
(1902)
59 (MED),
Þet compleþ þet spoushod..Þat hyt ne may be ondon..By ryȝte.
c1400
(▸c1378)
Langland Piers Plowman
(Laud 581)
(1869)
B. xviii. 347
Leue it nouȝte, lucifer, aȝeine þe lawe I fecche hem, But bi riȝt & by resoun [v.r. by reson and right; C. þorgh ryght and reson] raunceoun here my lyges.
▸a1470 Malory Morte Darthur
(Winch. Coll.)
774
Be ryght thou muste be dede, for thou haste slayne oure lorde.
1535 Bible
(Coverdale)
Luke xxiii. 41
And truly we are therin by right, for we receaue acordinge to oure dedes.
1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs
(1897)
143
Haly is his name be richt.
a1616 Shakespeare As you like It
(1623)
iv. iii. 177,
I should haue beene a woman by right.
1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy III. xxiii. 120
The story..is certainly out of its place here; for by right it should come in..amongst the anecdotes of my uncle Toby's amours.
1865 J. H. Newman Hist. my Religious Opinions iv. 203,
I had sometimes trusted their [sc. Anglican divines'] quotations... I had used words or made statements, which by right I ought rigidly to have examined myself.
1956 A. J. Lerner My Fair Lady
(1958)
i. i. 8
By right she should be taken out and hung For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue!
1995 P. McCabe Dead School
(1996)
230
By right there ought to have been cheering and dancing in Madeira Gardens for weeks on end.
?a1160—1995(Hide quotations)
†(f) by right (also rarely by rights): correctly, accurately; truthfully. Cf. on (also upon) right at Phrases 1b(k). Obs.
?c1225
(▸?a1200)
Ancrene Riwle
(Cleo. C.vi)
(1972)
274
Þeos is understonden biþe earste marie..& bigood richte [a1300 Caius mid god richt] for heo inmuche bireousunge..lefde hire sunnen.
a1325 St. Gregory
(Corpus Cambr.)
l. 29 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary
(1956)
82
Hy beoþ englise iliche Ȝif þe lond is such as þe men, name it haþ by c1300 Laud with riȝte Engliss lond it aȝte be[o].
c1330
(▸?a1300)
Arthour & Merlin
(Auch.)
(1973)
3738
A king þer com; ‘of an hundred kniȝtes’ His name was cleped bi riȝtes.
a1500
(▸?a1400)
Stanzaic Life of Christ
(Harl. 3909)
(1926)
439
Therfore I may say by riȝt, And therof make no lesyng, That on a Sonoday at nyȝt born was Ihesu heuen kyng.
1549 R. Crowley Voyce Laste Trumpet sig. Bvi,
Then shal no laye man say by ryghte That he learneth hys mysse of the.
1557 Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes sig. E.iii,
[Some] find contrary of it, that they intend. Alas, of that sort may I be, by right.
?c1225—1557(Hide quotations)
(g) by rights: justly; rightfully; if right were done (cf. Phrases 2a(b)).
1738 J. Miller Art & Nature i. 13
You shou'd have a Skreen here by rights, for too much Care can't be taken of a Health that is so precious to all Mankind.
1817 H. C. B. Campbell Jrnl. 27 July in G. R. de Beer Journey to Florence
(1951)
19
This Journal ought by rights to have been begun last Friday the 25th as on that day we left London.
1818 Keats Let. in Wks.
(1889)
III. 159,
I should not, by rights, speak in this tone to you.
1853 W. Whewell in J. M. Douglas Life & Corr. W. Whewell
(1881)
429
By rights he ought to leave his work and go play.
1884 H. R. Haggard Dawn I. vii. 101,
I suppose that I should not by rights have told you.
1951 R. Harling Paper Palace
(1952)
237
An aged character who should by rights have been dozing out his days in an olde-worlde almshouse.
1990 P. Bailey Immaculate Mistake 3
‘You were our mistake,’ said my mother. ‘You ought not to be here, by rights.’
2007 A. Enright Gathering
(2008)
xx. 202
Val is a bachelor farmer in his seventies, so he should, by rights, be half-mad. But he looks chipper enough.
1738—2007(Hide quotations)
(h) in the right: in the position or condition of being morally or factually correct. Usu. in to be in the right : to have justice, reason, or fact on one's side.
1490 Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon
(1885)
xxvi. 554
Ye shall take vengaunce of thyse traytours, For ye ben in the right, and they in the wronge.
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. ccclxxvi. 626
Ye be in the ryght of this warre.
1597 Shakespeare Richard III v. vi. 5
He was in the right, and so indeede it is.
a1616 Shakespeare Measure for Measure
(1623)
ii. i. 154
He's in the right (Constable), what say you to it?
1680 T. Otway Orphan i. 11
Your Sex Was never in the right, y'are alwayes false, Or silly.
1710 S. Palmer Moral Ess. Prov. 325
The most Ridiculous Bigot thinks himself in the Right, and..Believes his Resveries acceptable to God.
1734 B. Franklin Parody & Reply to Religious Medit. 8 Aug. in Writings
(1987)
231,
I never thought even Job in the right, when he repin'd that the Days of a Man are few and full of Trouble.
1782 F. Burney Cecilia III. v. ii. 41
She knew all the time she was in the right.
1815 Scott Let. 6 Sept.
(1933)
IV. 93
They are in the right however to enforce discipline and good order.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xviii. 125
A historical question about which they were in the right.
1900 J. Conrad Lord Jim xxv. 276
He struck at them through his subjects, and thought himself pathetically in the right.
1966 N. Gordimer Late Bourgeois World 32
They were all in the right, again, and he was wrong.
2007 Guardian 12 Apr. (G2 section) 3/1
But who's in the right—broadcasters or politicians?
1490—2007(Hide quotations)
†(i) of right: properly, rightfully (cf. Phrases 2a(h)). Obs.
?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry
(1906)
85 (MED),
The wiff of right owithe to honoure her husbonde.
1483
(▸1413)
Pilgrimage of Soul
(Caxton)
iv. xxx. f. lxxvjv,
To lesen his lyf as to a fals traitour of good right and reason belongeth.
c1500 God spede Plough
(Lansd.)
l. 17 in W. W. Skeat Pierce Ploughman's Crede
(1873)
70
So shulde of right the parson praye, That hath the tithe shefe of the londe.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cccxlv,
Seinge the case standeth thus, ther can no rebellion of right be obiected vnto vs.
1627 G. Hakewill Apologie iii. vii,
The onely man, to whom the price was of right to be adiudged.
1686 J. Scott Christian Life Pt. II II. vii. 882
They are all of right his Subjects.
1745 T. Cooke Immortality Reveal'd ii. 21
Such Kindness might be hop'd, tho' not of Right, Should not such Hope our Pains and Zeal excite.
?c1450—1745(Hide quotations)
†(j) of right: correctly, accurately; truthfully. Cf. on (also upon) right at Phrases 1b(k). Obs.
1494 Loutfut MS f. 5v, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Richt,
The admirall of richt is ane office that suld ring and be exersit be the sey to war.
1494—1494(Hide quotations)
†(k) on (also upon) right : correctly, accurately; truthfully. Cf. aright adv. Obs.
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos.
(Otho)
(2009)
I. v. 395
Gif ic þine unrot[nesse o]n riht ongieten hæbbe.
OE Beowulf
(2008)
1555
Geweold wigsigor witig drihten, rodera rædend; hit on ryht gesced yðelice, syþðan he eft astod.
OE Blickling Homilies 45
Se biscop sceal..þrafian þa mæssepreostas..þæt hie healdan Godes æwe on riht.
a1400
(▸a1325)
Cursor Mundi
(Vesp.)
1566 (MED),
Sua blind þai war in þair insight, þat reckining cuth þai nan o right.
c1400
(▸?c1380)
Cleanness
(1920)
1513 (MED),
Þer watz rynging, on ryȝt, of ryche metalles.
c1475
(▸?c1425)
Avowing of King Arthur
(1984)
l. 515
Quat is þi rawunsun, opon ryȝte? Þe soth þou mon sayn.
eOE—c1475(Hide quotations)
†(l) to all rights: at all points, in every respect. Cf. at all rights at Phrases 1b(a). Obs.
a1450
(▸?a1300)
Richard Coer de Lyon
(Caius)
(1810)
l. 3145
He was armyd to alle ryghtes.
a1450—a1450(Hide quotations)
(m) to rights.
(i) Also (rarely) to right, †to the rights. Formerly: †in a proper manner (obs.). Subsequently: to or into a proper condition or order. In later use chiefly in to put (also bring, set) to rights .
c1330 Sir Orfeo
(Auch.)
(1966)
l. 136 (MED),
Þer come to me to fair kniȝtes, Wele y-armed al to riȝtes [a1500 Harl. at alle ryȝthis].
a1375 William of Palerne
(1867)
53 (MED),
Of-saw he ful sone þat semliche child..cloþed..wiþ perrey & pellure pertelyche to þe riȝttes.
a1375 William of Palerne
(1867)
1632 (MED),
Þemperour & eueri man were esed to riȝttes & haden..what þei wolde ȝerne.
▸a1382 Bible
(Wycliffite, E.V.)
(Bodl. 959)
(1963)
1 Chron. Prol. l. 55
Þerfore I haue don þat I myȝte bryngen to riȝt [L. digererem] þe insolible lettyngis & þe wordis of names þe whiche þurȝ vice of writeris ben confoundid.
a1450
(▸a1338)
R. Mannyng Chron.
(Lamb.)
(1887)
i. l. 4127 (MED),
He mayntende þe lond to ryght [?a1400 Petyt to þe right].
1472–3 Rolls of Parl.: Edward IV
(Electronic ed.)
Parl. Oct. 1472 1st Roll §59. m. 2,
That all wolles..be sufficiauntly, trewly and indifferently pakked to rights, within the royalme of Englond.
1535 Bible
(Coverdale)
Luke vi. 10
Then was his hande restored him to right, euen as whole as the other.
c1600
(▸c1350)
Alisaunder 1220
That bolde borou Byzance, þat buyld was to-rihtus, Was called syn..Constantinoble.
1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. ix. 43
Bring the ship to rights, that is, againe vnder saile as she was.
1662 S. Pepys Diary 30 Jan.
(1970)
III. 20
Imployed all the afternoon in my chamber, setting things and papers to rights.
1706 J. Logan in Mem. Hist. Soc. Pennsylvania
(1872)
X. 146
When once puzzled he can with difficulty bring himself to rights.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. lxxvi. 352
Sense of shame..may make rifled rank get up, and shake itself to rights.
1767 B. Franklin Let. 5 Apr. in Wks.
(1887)
IV. 23,
I received the watch chain, which you say you send to be put to rights.
1821 T. Jefferson Autobiogr. in Writings
(1892)
I. 109
How the good should be secured, and the ill brought to rights, was the difficulty.
1842 G. S. Faber Provinc. Lett. I. 55
Call in Mr. Maitland,..and he will speedily set all to right.
1859 J. W. Carlyle Let. 26 Sept. in Lett. & Memorials
(1883)
III. 8
A good sleep would have put me to rights.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. III. lxxxix. 216
The lists of voters, which had been carelessly..made up, were set to rights.
1929 K. S. Prichard Coonardoo xv. 144
She set to work to put her kitchen ‘to rights’.
1978 M. Lavin Tales Bective Bridge
(rev. ed.)
40
It was going to take time to get the place to rights again.
1990 N. Gordimer My Son's Story 55
As she walked out she put up a hand to set a stray strand of her hair to rights.
2001 Daily Tel. 6 July 27/1
She trapezes across the world putting everything to rights.
c1330—2001(Hide quotations)
†(ii) At once, straightaway; (also) completely, altogether. In early use freq. in to sink to rights . Obs. (U.S. regional in later use).
1663 S. Pepys Diary 8 June
(1971)
IV. 177
Mr. Coventry and us two did discourse with the Duke a little.., and so to rights home again.
1673 Dryden Amboyna iii. 33
The Vessel Rifl'd, and the rich Hould rummag'd, they sink it down to rights.
1683 T. Tryon Way to Health 390
The King..ordered him to be carried to rights, to the Tower.
1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 134
The whole Tract..sinks down to rights into the Abyss underneath.
1702 S. Parker tr. Cicero Five Bks. De Finibus v. 303
When Indigent People are ready..to suffer any Thing rather than die to Rights.
1726 Swift Gulliver I. ii. viii. 151
The Hulk.., by reason of many Breaches.., sunk to rights.
1731 G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope I. 34
The poor fellow, in a most piteous condition, and his heart sinking to rights under the melancholy notion he had of it.
1835 ‘Major J. Downing’ Lett. 129
So to rights the express got back, and brought a letter.
1848 Knickerbocker 31 178
I'm going to start a dairy to-rights.
1663—1848(Hide quotations)
(iii) slang (orig. U.S.). In the context of apprehending a criminal: with no chance of escape or acquittal; red-handed, in the act.Freq. to get (a person) (dead or bang) to rights : see also dead to rights at dead adv. 2b and bang to rights at bang v.1 9.
1843 Proc. Old Bailey 3 July 18
Some person in the street hallooed out, ‘Jem, what is the matter?’—Elliott said, ‘They have got us all to rights, they have got eleven in the trap.’
1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 25
Dead to rights, positively guilty, and no way of getting clear.
1864 National Police Gaz. in Comments on Etymol.
(1987)
Dec. 18
He..found himself in the grab of a detective, who had..only waited for the opportunity of ‘collaring’ him ‘to rights’.
1881 A. Trumble Slang Dict. N.Y., London & Paris 36/2
To rights. The evidence is conclusive enough to convict.
1929 D. Hammett Red Harvest xiii. 132,
I played your side when he tried to frame you. This time he's got you copped to rights.
1983 D. Francis Danger
(1984)
xv. 208
They finally gave their names, once they saw we'd got them to rights.
2002 P. King & R. King New Kings' Tales 68,
I've got you to rights, Flasher... You've nicked these from the Governor's safe.
1843—2002(Hide quotations)
†(n) with (also mid) right : in accordance with reason or justice (cf. sense Phrases 2a(i)); rightfully, properly. Obs.
eOE (Kentish) Royal Charter: Æðelberht to Æðelred (Sawyer 332) in W. de G. Birch Cartularium Saxonicum
(1887)
II. 116
Meda be eastan ee sue ðer mid riahte to ðem lande limpað.
OE Blickling Homilies 123
Seo mennisce gecynd..mæg mid rihte þæm Scyppende lof & wuldor secgean þara ara.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron.
(Laud)
(Peterborough contin.)
anno 1127
Þa forlæs he þet [sc. the archbishopric] mid rihte, forþi þet he hit hæfde æror beieten mid unrihte.
?c1200 Ormulum
(Burchfield transcript)
l. 1395
Enngless haffdenn heoffness ærd Forrlorenn all wiþþ rihhte.
?c1225
(▸?a1200)
Ancrene Riwle
(Cleo. C.vi)
(1972)
173
Seint beneit &..seint antoine..weren..ipruuet to treowe champiuns & swa wið richte of serueden kempene crune.
c1300 St. Brendan
(Laud)
l. 53 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary
(1887)
221 (MED),
He..seide þat we ouȝten Ihesu crist þonki suyþe wel with riȝte.
c1400
(▸c1378)
Langland Piers Plowman
(Laud 581)
(1869)
B. iii. 238
Lorde, who shal..resten on þi holy hilles?.. Tho þat..han wrouȝte werkis with riȝte and with reson.
c1440
(▸?c1350)
in G. G. Perry Relig. Pieces in Prose & Verse
(1914)
23 (MED),
With gud ryghte þay loue þe and Onoures þe and gloryfyes þe, all thy creatures.
a1500 Sidrak & Bokkus
(Lansd.)
(Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington)
(1965)
11019 (MED),
Kynges and princes oght with right Her londes to deffende with fight.
1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. iii. 40
Mortall sight, Too weake to see the lightfull Iove that ruleth all with right.
1614 A. Gorges tr. Lucan Pharsalia iv. 148
Cæsar may with right confesse, That he in vs hath vndergone A bloody losse worthy of mone.
1651 T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. i. 11
All men account to be done justly, and with right; Neither by the word Right is any thing else signified.
1752 C. Smart Poems on Several Occasions 205
Ye lawyers so just, who with slippery tongue, Can do what you please, or with right, or with wrong.
eOE—1752(Hide quotations)
P2. (In branch II.)
a. In prepositional phrases denoting justifiable title or claim to something.
(a) as of right: by virtue of legal or moral entitlement. Cf. of right at Phrases 2a(h).
1624 T. Gataker Christian Constancy 27
Nor can wee claime ought as of right from him for all that we doe for him.
1700 C. Leslie Ess. Right of Tythes ix. 112
Now if the Gospel has nothing as of Right, which it can Claim.
1784 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations
(ed. 3)
III. v. iii. 136
Administration laid claim to their territorial acquisitions, and the revenue arising from them, as of right belonging to the crown.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People x. §4. 791
While England repelled the claims of the Prince of Wales to the Regency as of right, Ireland admitted them.
1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay ii. §7. 33
Eggs at unusual times, the reboiling of milk, the rejection of an excellent milk pudding..dictated as of right.
1944 Blackwood's Mag. June 453/2
Invitations were sent as of right to European officers, but not to Indian officers of equal rank.
2005 New Statesman 7 Mar. 29/1
Semi-sentient bloodstock from the aristocratic classes form part of the legislature as of right.
1624—2005(Hide quotations)
(b) by (†good, etc.) right : according to legal or moral entitlement; (also) = of right at Phrases 1b(i). Also occas. by rights.
c1330
(▸?a1300)
Arthour & Merlin
(Auch.)
(1973)
990
He it [sc. a child] cristned... Þe fende þerof hadde grame, For þai lese þer þe miȝt Þat þai wende to haue bi riȝt.
c1400
(▸c1378)
Langland Piers Plowman
(Laud 581)
(1869)
B. x. 343 (MED),
Þei [sc. the poor] han heritage in heuene, and bi trewe riȝte.
c1466 in Archaeologia
(1887)
50 52
Askynge..their Casuallys and other thynges þt long to hem be right ameabully.
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. xxiv. sig. Mv,
Whiche praise with the honour therevnto due, as inheritaunce discendeth by righte vnto his most noble sonne.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. lxxviij,
[He] affirmed the kyngdome to be his by good right.
1597 Shakespeare Richard III i. iii. 169
The sorrow that I haue by right is yours.
c1616 W. Mure Misc. Poems xx. 10
Pretending tytyls..By ry[ch]t hereditar to serve thy grace.
1671 Milton Paradise Regain'd ii. 325
Owe not all Creatures by just right to thee Duty and Service?
1707 H. Sloane Voy. Islands I. Introd. 87
The Turtle-fishery..thought..to be ours by right... The Turtle-fishing..pretended to by the French of the Island Tortugas.
1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. xvi. 271
One man then is guardian by right: another man comes and makes himself so by usurpation.
1855 C. Kingsley Westward Ho! I. ii. 32
Days when the gentry of England were by due right the leaders of the people.
1863 Dickens Uncommerc. Traveller in All Year Round 24 Oct. 207/1
Any little matters which ought to be ours by rights.
1901 Times 3 July 5/6
They..enter a protestation ‘saving to themselves and their successors all such rights in judicature as they have by law and by right ought to have’.
1960 R. Davies Voice from Attic iv. 137
Many servants had no holiday by right, except the middle Sunday of Lent, called Mothering Sunday.
1994 Amer. Spectator June 30/2
Such employees are permanent staff only by tradition, not by right, and the Clintons apparently think nothing of..replacing White House ushers, telephone operators, correspondence clerks, and chefs.
c1330—1994(Hide quotations)
(c) by right of: by virtue of, on the grounds of; †through the legal entitlement of (obs.).
c1434 Petition
(P.R.O.)
336.15865 (MED),
He was pesible ceised in a manoir..with certeyn londes and tenementz..be right of his wyfe, the wheche hadde ioynt estate with her former husbond.
▸c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun
(1987)
351 (MED),
Þe wijf ȝeuyþ hir fleisch to her husbonde in al þat he may aske þerynne bi riȝt of wedlok.
1565 A. Golding tr. Ovid Fyrst Fower Bks. Metamorphosis i. f. 5v,
O suster, O my louying spowse..Whome Nature fyrst by right of byrthe hath lynked too mee fast In that we brothers chyldren bene.
1590 Spenser Faerie Queene i. iv. 48
To you th' inheritance belonges by right Of brothers prayse, to you eke longes his love.
1611 Bible
(King James)
Tobit iii. 17
She belongeth to Tobias by right of inheritance.
1698 J. Locke Two Treat. Govt. 125
One that was, by Right of Nature, to Inherit all..exclusive..of his brethren.
1776 Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xi. 320
He disdained to hold his power by any other title than that of the sword, and governed by right of conquest.
1789 W. Cowper On Queen's Visit to London 3
By right of worth, not blood alone, Entitled here to reign!
1842 Tennyson Palace of Art
(rev. ed.)
in Poems
(new ed.)
I. 149
Hers by right of full-accomplish'd Fate.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake II. ii. 36
Pack up the Englishman's plate-chest, which we inherited by right of fist.
1909 H. James Golden Bowl I. Pref. p. v,
The somebody is often..an unnamed, unintroduced and (save by right of intrinsic wit) unwarranted participant.
1959 Observer 1 Mar. 10/1
This ‘manor’—a tenement neighbourhood in North London—is theirs by right of birth and conquest.
2003 D. H. Moy Living Trusts xvii. 384
In her will, Zella gives her residuary estate in equal shares to her sister, Laura, her brother, Earl, and her sister, Ina Mae, or their respective surviving children by right of representation.
c1434—2003(Hide quotations)
(d) in right: as regards the law or legal entitlement; legally; to be in right : (of a person) to have a legal right.
c1325
(▸c1300)
Chron. Robert of Gloucester
(Calig.)
7495
A nywe louerd þat more in riȝte [B.v.r. in more ryȝt] was.
1461–2 Rolls of Parl.: Edward IV
(Electronic ed.)
Parl. Nov. 1461 §15. m. 5,
To any other men of religion, havyng any chirche, hospitall or chapell..of the yifte or graunte of any of the kynges in dede and not in right.
1642 T. Fuller Holy State ii. xix. 123
Nor doth it follow that he hath the best in right, who hath the best in fight.
1737 Treat. Equity iv. 35
And it is a common Maxim, that he, who has the Precedency in Time, has the Advantage in Right.
1841 J. F. Cooper Deerslayer I. i. 26
Perhaps we are so, in fact, whatever it may be in right—but there is a law, and a law maker, that rule across the whole continent.
1981 Double Tressure No. 3. 32
In Scotland, as on the Continent, the same individual may be in right to more than one coat of arms.
c1325—1981(Hide quotations)
(e) in right of: on the grounds or basis of; through the legal or moral entitlement of.
1439–40 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI
(Electronic ed.)
Parl. Nov. 1439 §43. m. 5,
Noght seised of lond or rentes.., bot in right of þeire wyves.
1556 J. Heywood Spider & Flie lxxxviii. sig. Nn,
But: in right of either part: to determin ought: What thei for their part: or you for yours should haue, Shift that among you: for it forsith me nought.
1596 Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. iii. sig. O3,
To chalenge all in right of Florimell, And to maintaine, that she all others did excell.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage iv. viii. 379
Solimanbee,..who made challenge to the State in right of his wife.
1686 Dryden To Pious Memory A. Killigrew vi, in A. Killigrew Poems sig. a4,
To the next Realm she stretcht her Sway..And the whole Fief, in right of Poetry she claim'd.
1704 in Swift Tale of Tub sig. A3v,
I should now, in right of a Dedicator, give your Lordship a List of your own Virtues.
1791 T. Paine Rights of Man i. i,
There is no English origin of kings... They are descendants of the Norman line in right of the Conquest.
1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany xvi. 258
Claiming the dukedom in right of his wife.
1887 H. R. Haggard Allan Quatermain i,
Nought have I brought save this mine axe; in right of which once I ruled the people of the axe.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 779/1
He married Isabella, the daughter of Amalric I. by his second marriage, and became king of Jerusalem in right of his wife.
1988 J. C. K. Cornwall Wealth & Society in Early 16th Cent. Eng. iii. 112
In 1528 Underwood, as life tenant in right of his wife, transferred the property to another non-resident.
2006 Independent 23 Dec. 33/2
A woman, for instance may be a duchess in right of her husband or she may succeed to the title from her father and thus enjoy it in her own right.
1439–40—2006(Hide quotations)
(f) in the right of a person (also in one's right ): in a person's (or one's) name; through a claim or entitlement held by a person (or oneself). Chiefly with reference to entitlement by a husband through his wife.
1472–3 Rolls of Parl.: Edward IV
(Electronic ed.)
Parl. Oct. 1472 1st Roll §14. m. 30,
Castelles, lordships, maners, [etc.]..in the possession of the same Richard and Anne his wyfe, as in the right of the same Anne.
1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII c. 48
The castell of Douer, wherof the kinges maiesty is verye owner in the right of the imperial crowne of this his realme.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 53
Wherefore king Henry hauyng now maryed the sayde Alianor claymed as in her right the Erledome of Tholose.
1601 W. Fulbecke Parallele or Conf. Law i. f. 49,
Where the husband is seised of a Seignorie in the right of his wife, a man may not make conusans as baily to the husband, but as bayly to them both.
1642 tr. J. Perkins Profitable Bk. i. §100. 44
An assignee..is such a person who doth occupie in his own right; and a deputie such a person who doth occupie in the right of another.
1729 G. Jacob New Law-dict. at Merger,
Where a Man hath a Term in his own Right, and the Inheritance descends to his Wife, so as he hath a Freehold in her Right; the Term is not merged or drowned.
1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. 435
The only method he had to gain possession of it, was by suing in his wife's right.
1830 W. H. Ireland England's Topographer IV. 405
She had issue only by her second husband, Sir Reginald Braybrooke, one sole daughter and heir, Joan, who married Sir Thomas Brooke, of Somersetshire, and he became lord Cobham in her right.
1885 Law Times Rep. 53 526/1
Property which should come to the wife, or the husband in her right.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 188/2
Otto I., the German king..had formed the design of marrying her and claiming the Italian kingdom in her right.
1958 Eng. Hist. Rev. 73 232
Dingwall claimed most of the estate in the right of his wife.
2001 Burlington Mag. 143 157/1
He was entitled, in the right of his wife Mary Bonkil, to a share in the property.
1472–3—2001(Hide quotations)
(g) in one's own right (a) through one's own position or effort; independently of one's relationship to others (also with non-personal subject); (b) in one's name; = in one's right at Phrases 2a(f).
1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men
(de Worde)
v. vii. sig. ssivv,
Euery creature in his owne ryght ought faythfully to labour to the entent that he may fynally haue the experyence of suche meruaylle.
1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Surueyeng xviii. f. 33,
No man shall do homage, but he that hath a state of enherytaunce in fee symple or in fee tayle, in his owne right or in his wyues.
1572 A. Golding tr. H. Bullinger Confut. Popes Bull f. 80v,
Then in his owne right bequeathing these kingdomes to his Cousin Peter king of Aragon.., he [sc. Corradine] held out his necke vnfearefully to the execution and had his head striken of.
1619 E. M. Bolton tr. Florus Rom. Hist. iii. xvii. 337
The Gentrie..robbd the common-weale in their owne right.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iv. xliv. 341
That which the High Priest did to Athaliah, was not done in his owne right, but in the right of the young King Joash her Son.
1682 J. Bunyan Holy War 113,
I am therefore come up against thee in mine own right, even to recover mine own inheritance out of thine hand.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones I. i. x. 52
Where they might enjoy almost the same Advantages of a liberal Fortune as if they were entitled to it in their own Right.
1778 J. Carver Trav. N.-Amer. 41
This heroine was ever after treated by her nation as their deliverer, and was made a chiefess in her own right.
1839 Dickens Nicholas Nickleby iv. 27
She has a little money in her own right.
1863 Times 11 Mar. 5/2
The Crown Princess of Prussia..has always been popular in her own right.
1939 G. B. Shaw In Good King Charles's Golden Days i. 47
When I am King—as I shall be, in my own right, and not by the leave of any Protestant parliamentary gang.
1965 Listener 2 Sept. 331/1,
I shall try to say something of the fundamental problems of science which are of the deepest significance in their own right.
2005 N. Hornby Long Way Down 97
If I'd known that Jess was newsworthy in her own right, then I could have prepared myself.
1502—2005(Hide quotations)
(h) of right: by virtue of legal or moral entitlement (cf. sense Phrases 1b(i)).
a1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game
(Digby)
xxxiii,
Lete þe houndes comme too and eete þe flessh..for þat is hir rewarde of reght.
c1450 Siege Calais
(Rome)
in PMLA
(1952)
67 892
Thair possessioun..longed to hem of Right.
1489
(▸a1380)
J. Barbour Bruce
(Adv.)
i. 159
The kynryk ȝharn I nocht to have Bot gyff it fall off rycht to me.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. MMvi,
He that of very right owed the cappe.
1576 A. Fleming tr. C. Hegendorphinus in Panoplie Epist. 391
He may (of right) chalenge to him self this singular title.
1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso ii. xxi. 255
He ought of right to have precedency.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost ix. 611
To come..and worship thee of right declar'd Sovran of Creatures.
1707 J. Chamberlayne Angliæ Notitia
(ed. 22)
ii. vi. 98
He [sc. the king's eldest son] may that Day sue for the Livery of the said Dukedom [of Cornwall] and ought of Right to obtain the same.
1824 W. Cobbett Hist. Protestant Reformation xi. §330
Those great estates, which of right belonged to the poorer classes.
1907 Times 21 Aug. 2/4
A lion-tailed macaque (Macacus silenus) often miscalled the wanderoo, a name which of right belongs to the purple-faced langur (Semnopithecus cephalopterus) of Ceylon.
1996 N. Doe Legal Framework Church of Eng. xvii. 472
For Easter offerings as belonging of right to the incumbent, see e.g. CDH, 171.
a1425—1996(Hide quotations)
(i) with (also mid) right : with legal entitlement or justifiable claim (cf. Phrases 1b(n)). In early use often with shall.
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos.
(Otho)
(2009)
I. v. 398
[Hi me habbað] benumen mines [naman þe ic mid] rihte habban sceolde.
OE Beowulf
(2008)
2056
Þara banena byre nathwylces..þone maðþum byreð, þone þe ðu mid rihte rædan sceoldest.
c1300 St. Gregory
(Laud)
l. 29 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary
(1887)
356
Ȝif þat [lond] is swuch ase [þe] men beoth: name it hauez with riȝte.
c1350
(▸a1333)
William of Shoreham Poems
(1902)
59
He spekeþ of þyng þat his to come, Þat scholde be myd ryȝte Of treuþe.
c1450
(▸?a1400)
Sege Melayne 1020 (MED),
Slayne in the felde gif þat I bee, Kynge off Fraunce here make I the, With reghte þe Reme to lede.
1508 Golagrus & Gawain 1314
Thoght I myght reif thame with right rath to my handis.
1600 Shakespeare Henry V i. ii. 96
May we, with right & conscience make this claime?
1698 E. Ravenscroft Ital. Husband ii. i. 21
The life I gave, I may with right call mine; And what is mine, my Honoor will defend.
1754 G. Jeffreys Misc. 46
But persevering Courage found the way To lose with honour, and invade with right.
1864 Trollope Can you forgive Her? I. xviii. 148
No one would be at Matching who could torment Alice, either with right or without it.
2003 S. W. Berry All that makes Man 10
Today, women's historians can claim, with right, that ‘in no way has the historical landscape changed more radically..than in the emergence from the deep shadows of the other half of the population’.
eOE—2003(Hide quotations)
(j) within one's rights : not exceeding one's entitlement or authority.
1847 Howitt's Jrnl. May 241/2
The moral sense of humanity has prohibited actions which—once deemed perfectly within their rights—would now be justly stigmatized as crimes.
1862 J. C. Morton Arthur Young's Farmer's Cal.
(ed. 21)
Feb. 63
The articles on which he insisted as the only terms on which his land should be let were quite within his rights as owner.
1881 Trollope Dr. Wortle's School II. i. 3
He is no doubt a clergyman of the Church of England, and Dr. Wortle was within his rights in asking for his assistance.
1958 Visct. Montgomery Mem.
(1961)
359
A commander of national forces is always within his rights to make clear his views on operational policies to his superior.
2000 P. W. B. Semmens & A. J. Goldfinch How Steam Locomotives really Work vii. 255
Originally a signalman was within his rights to hold a train at a converging junction.
1847—2000(Hide quotations)
b. In phrases with other nouns.
(a)
claim of right n. Law a formal assertion of a right of possession, use, etc.; also in extended use.
1573 J. Bridges Supremacie Christian Princes 906
How many Princes in Christendome haue you yt be chosen in that sort, of so free voluntarie choice as you speake of, or not rather their kingdomes belong vnto them, by claime of right & succession.
1717 W. Nicolson London Diaries 3 May
(1985)
657
He..observes that (contrary to Ol. Wormius's claim of Right for his Danes) the true Tribeing of the Skaldi is in this order.
1771 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra
(1772)
II. xlii. 139
[He] rejects with indignation the claim of right, which his adversary endeavours to establish.
1893 Times 14 Apr. 13/6
There was, moreover, a bona fide claim of right, and the jurisdiction of the magistrates was ousted.
1996 Cycle Touring & Campaigning Apr.–May 28/1
Sixteen of the longest-use cyclists are providing Statutory Declarations on Oath (affidavits) for a claim of right to use these tracks.
1573—1996(Hide quotations)
(b)
monstrance of right n. Law see monstrance n.1 2.
(c)
right of abode n. Law the right to reside in a particular place (also fig.); (now) spec. the right to live and work in a country without restrictions.
1771 C. Walmesley Gen. Hist. Christian Church viii. 202
The sensual appetites claimed here their right of abode.
1775 Johnson Journey W. Islands 13
One of the vaults was inhabited by an old woman, who claimed the right of abode there.
1850 M. J. Kennedy tr. I. da Costa Israel & Gentiles iv. 541
Among those [sc. Jews] who were tolerated by inheritance, the right of abode descended to only one child of the family.
1971 Immigration Act c. 77. i. ii. §6
In the following provisions of this Act the word ‘patrial’ is used of persons having the right of abode in the United Kingdom.
2001 Hong Kong Imail
(Nexis)
23 July
The territory's highest court ruled that only natural-born Hong Kong children were entitled to right of abode.
1771—2001(Hide quotations)
(d)
writ of right n. [after Anglo-Norman bref de dreit (13th cent. or earlier)] Law a writ which is grantable as a matter of right, as opposed to a prerogative writ; similarly title of right.
1414 Petition in Rotuli Parl.
(1767–77)
IV. 59/2
Oure Lond, by the Kynges Writ of right enclosed.
1425 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI
(Electronic ed.)
Parl. Apr. 1425 §12. m. 4,
Ther are to consider ynne þis matere..two þinges; þat is to sey, oon matier of possession, anoþer thing verrey title of right.
?c1500 Killing of Children
(Digby)
l. 109
In conseruacion of my tytell of right.
1579 W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 89
A writ of right being brought against him, prescription of possession will not serue him.
a1634 E. Coke 3rd Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng.
(1648)
lxxii. 158
In a Writ of right, if the tenant wage battail by his Champion.
1726 W. Nelson Lex Maneriorum 36
[The Court of the Manor] 'tis a Court which may try the Mise joined upon a Writ of Right.
1817 W. Selwyn Abridgem. Law Nisi Prius
(ed. 4)
II. 1085
A Quo warranto being in the nature of a writ of right.
1894 L. O. Pike Constit. Hist. House of Lords 171
This writ, known in later times as Praecipe in capite, was the Writ of Right applicable to a tenant in chief of the Crown as distinguished from an undertenant owing suit to the Court of his Lord.
1944 Amer. Hist. Rev. 49 203
In time the little writ of right when brought for such land in the manor court could by ‘protestation’, as it was called, be changed into some other form of land action.
2003 P. Brand Kings, Barons & Justices i. iii. 100
When seignorial courts were authorised to hear such cases by the writ of right the litigants were provided with important safeguards against the lord's failure to provide justice.
1414—2003(Hide quotations)
writ of right close n. [after Anglo-Norman bref de dreit clos (13th cent. or earlier)] Feudal Law a royal writ dealing with a case concerning the tenants of a manor, only valid in and applicable to the court of the lord of that manor. Also little writ of right close, petty writ of right close. Cf. right close n.
a1325 Statutes of Realm
(2011)
xxv. 85
Þei in þe olde seignurie of þe corone ne ourne no writ oþer þan þe luttle writ of riȝt clos, noȝt forþi I sai mine maistres in þre cas nimen assise of nouele deseisine.
c1523 J. Rastell Expos. Terminorum Legum Anglorum sig. E. 8,
Yf any land in auncion demesne be in varyauns betwene the tenauntys than ye tenaunt so greuyd shall haue agaynst the other a wryt of ryght close.
1533 in I. S. Leadam Select Cases Court of Requests
(1898)
37
All the Tenauntes within the seid manour haue vsid..to plede..within the same manour by pety writte of righte close for all maner of pleys towching their landes.
1607 J. Cowell Interpreter sig. Iii4v/1 at Recto,
A writ of right close..lieth for those, which hould their lands..by charter in fee simple..or in dower, if they be eiected out of such lands.
1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor 335
In the writ of Right Close, the Tenure must not be laid per liberum seruitium, because..no Free man may bring that writ.
1701 G. Booth Nature & Pract. Real Actions ii. ii. 86
Præcipe in Capite, is a Writ of Right Close.
1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. 195
There is likewise a little writ of right close,..which lies for the king's tenants in antient demesne,..to try the right of their lands and tenements in the court of the lord exclusively.
1831 R. Fox Hist. Godmanchester v. 89
Upon informalities apparently much less important, Writs of Right Close are numerous in the Court Records of the Borough, from the most antient times, but for the last half century have been less common.
1865 F. M. Nichols in tr. Britton II. 338
(margin)
,
Writ of right close not removable.
1925 Harvard Law Rev. 38 483
Will an ordinary common-law writ (not the little writ of right close which was the peculiar privilege of ancient demesne) run for the recovery of a tenement..for a parson whose only remedy is the utrum?
1988 Jrnl. Econ. Hist. 48 446
Despite the importance modern authorities attached to the little writ of right close, Havering tenants displayed no liking for it.
a1325—1988(Hide quotations)
writ of right patent n. [after Anglo-Norman bref de dreit patent (15th cent. or earlier)] Feudal Law a royal writ ordering a lord to hear a case between his free tenants.
c1523 J. Rastell Expos. Terminorum Legum Anglorum sig. E.6v/2,
It is a wryt of ryght patent which shalbe tryed by batell or graunt assyse.
1607 J. Cowell Interpreter sig. Ddd2a,
Sometime a writ of Right patent: as when it issueth out of any Lords court, for any of his tenents deforced, against the deforcer, and must be determined there.
1732 G. Jacob City-liberties 168
There are several Writs executable in London; as the Writ of Right Patent in Plea of Land.
1797 C. Watkins Treat. Copyholds I. iv. 169
Timothy Walgrave..made protestation to prosecute his said plaint in this Court, in the form and nature of a writ of right patent at the common law, according to the custom of the said manor.
1836 Legal Observer 30 Apr. 495/2
The plaintiff..issued his writ of right patent, in pursuance of the last-mentioned section, before the 1st of June last.
1937 Univ. Toronto Law Jrnl. 2 37
Whether in a writ of right patent directed to the lord of the manor..the court held by virtue of the writ was or was not a court of record.
2003 M. Mulholland in M. Mulholland & B. Pullen Judicial Tribunals in Eng. & Europe, 1200–1700 iv. 84
It became necessary for the claimant in a dispute over freehold land to obtain a writ of right patent before he could compel his opponent to answer in the lord's court.
c1523—2003(Hide quotations)
†P3. (In branch III.)
on right: directly, straight. Obs. [Probably partly aphetic < i-riht n.; compare Old English on geriht (also on gerihte), in the same sense.]
OE Bounds (Sawyer 623) in P. H. Sawyer Charters of Burton Abbey
(1979)
23
Of þam mere on riht to þam lytlan bro[ce] up &land [read andlang] cumbes to þam sceardan beorge.
lOE Bounds (Sawyer 412) in W. de G. Birch Cartularium Saxonicum
(1887)
II. 358
Of ðere riðe norðeweardre on riht to gosleage wege.
c1350
(▸OE)
Bounds (Sawyer 466) in W. de G. Birch Cartularium Saxonicum
(1887)
II. 476
Þanen on þe merefourh and soa on riȝt over dauntesbourne.
OE—c1350(Hide quotations)
Compounds
C1.
right-conferring adj.
1816 J. Bentham Introductory View 17 in Extract Constit. Code: Official Aptitude Maximized
A civil, or say a right-conferring code.
2001 M. C. Murphy Natural Law in Jurisp. & Politics
(2006)
49
When there is a right-conferring legal norm..the law has made a commitment.
1816—2001(Hide quotations)
C2.
right-left adj. of or between the right and the left (in various contexts); freq. with reference to reflective symmetry.
1904 Psychol. Rev. 11 385
The second mirror gave a right-left as well as a front-back reversal of the real position of the fingers.
1928 Jrnl. Exper. Psychol. 11 399
A pseudophone..gave the wearer a right-left reversal of audition.
1964 M. Critchley Developmental Dyslexia ix. 60
Dyslexics show only a mild tendency towards a malperformance of higher order right-left orientation exercises.
1970 S. Rokkan Citizens, Elections, Parties x. 335
He sees in this circumstance a possible explanation for the absence of a clear-cut tradition of right-left polarization in the United States.
1978 Science 24 Feb. 852
(heading)
Right-left asymmetries in the brain.
1995 New Yorker 19 June 63/3
The most interesting are radical and explicitly fusion-oriented, rejecting the right-left dichotomy.
1904—1995(Hide quotations)
rights issue n. Stock Market an issue of shares offered at a special price by a company to its existing shareholders.
1935 Economist 4 May 1010/1
The index is ‘cumulative’, and takes account of bonus and ‘rights’ issues made during the period.
1955 Times 20 Aug. 11/2
The Commercial Bank of Australia's ‘rights’ issue of 2,105,868 Ordinary shares of 10s. (Australian currency) at 15s. each has been over-subscribed without recourse to the underwriters.
1976 Birmingham Post 16 Dec. 9/5
Lazards are to discuss the intricate and difficult problems of the conflicting timing of its offer for Dunford and Elliott and Dunford's rights issue with the takeover Panel.
2002 BusinessWeek 22 July 52/2
The shares of BT Group PLC and Dutch telco KPN rose after they used rights issues to help get debt under control.
1935—2002(Hide quotations)
