Origin: Germanic Old English suffix
Upright has 10 different meanings across 3 categories:
Noun · Adjective · Proper Noun
a piano with a vertical sounding board
"He decided to buy an upright piano instead of a grand one because it took up less space in his small apartment."
Any vertical part of a structure, especially one of the goal posts in sports.
"The referee signaled that the ball had crossed over the uprights to complete the field goal."
In plain English: An upright is someone who stands tall and straight with good posture instead of slouching down.
"The upright on his harp was made of polished wood."
To set upright or stand back up (something that has fallen).
"The strong wind knocked over the lamp, but I quickly picked it up and set it upright again."
In plain English: To make something stand straight and vertical so it doesn't fall over.
"The waiter stood upright while serving the customers."
Vertical; erect.
"The tree stood tall and upright against the dark sky."
in or into an upright position
"The child pulled herself up to an upright position and stood on her own two feet."
In plain English: Upright means standing straight and not leaning to one side.
"He sat very upright in his chair during the meeting."
Usage: Use "upright" as an adverb to describe moving something so it stands vertically rather than lying flat. It is often confused with the adjective form, but both share the same spelling when indicating a vertical orientation.
A surname.
"The Upright family has lived in that village for three generations."
From Middle English upright, uppryght, upriht, from Old English upriht ("upright; erect"), from Proto-Germanic *upprehtaz, equivalent to up- + right. Cognate with Saterland Frisian apgjucht ("upright"), West Frisian oprjocht ("upright"), Dutch oprecht ("upright"), German Low German uprecht ("upright"), German aufrecht ("upright"), Swedish upprätt ("upright"), Icelandic uppréttur ("upright").