From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishuprightup‧right1 /ˈʌpraɪt/ ●○○ adjective, adverb 1 VERTICALstanding or sitting straight upsit/stand/walk upright The chimpanzee stood upright and grasped the bars of its cage. Katie was still awake, sitting bolt upright (=sitting with her back very straight) staring at the television.pull/push/draw etc yourself upright He pulled himself upright and faced me.2 placed in a vertical position (=pointing in a line that is at an angle of 90° to a flat surface) Your seat should be in the upright position when the plane is landing. Keep the bottle upright.3 GOOD/MORALalways behaving in an honest way He was a good honest upright man.► see thesaurus at honest —uprightness noun [uncountable]COLLOCATIONSverbssit uprightShe was sitting upright in bed.stand uprightThe ceiling was so low I was unable to stand upright.walk uprightThese apes came down from the trees and gradually learned to walk upright.pull/push yourself uprightHe pulled himself upright on the sofa.draw yourself upright (=stand straighter)Susan drew herself upright and thrust out her chin.phrasessit/stand bolt upright (=sit or stand with your back very straight)Murphy and I both sat bolt upright when we heard the alarm.nounsan upright posture/stance (=a straight body position)He appears big because of his powerful shoulders and upright posture.
Examples from the Corpus
upright• He had seen one advertised, a small upright Bösendorfer.• Dickensian child victims grow into upright citizens if they grow up at all.• It went on a line into the stands and hit the same upright girder.• Here were the upright golden flames of the poplars lining the road, and the willows yellowing down by the creek.• Elfed, a sober and upright man who was to become unfairly the sounding board for Richard's first rebellions.pull/push/draw etc yourself upright• She landed in the mud and struggled to push herself upright.• Twigs dug into the palms of his hands as he pushed himself upright.• As he pushed himself upright he saw a fleeting figure just on the other side of the perimeter fence.• He pushed himself upright, shaking his head to make the wheeling stars go away.upright position• But he leapt through the staggering sharpness of it and achieved an upright position.• Kneeling beside him, she tried, unsuccessfully, to push him into an upright position.• She pushed a button, cranking the bed to a more upright position.• The reliquary consists of the figure of the Saint from the head to the waist and is situated in an upright position.• The uterus rises to a more upright position.• He achieved some sort of upright position, although his treacherous legs deserted him immediately.• The taller stances, in which the practitioner adopts an almost upright position, are fast but weak.• I eased into an upright position, ducking back out of sight until I heard him start the car and pull away.uprightupright2 noun [countable] TITBCa long piece of wood or metal that stands straight up and supports somethingExamples from the Corpus
upright• He bounced one field goal off an upright and had two others blocked, including one returned for a touchdown.• They are fixed to the top of the existing uprights.• Cylinders rely on suction, which is why they often have a higher wattage than uprights.• If there are any horizontal joints, noggins have to be fixed between the uprights to take the edges of these boards.• At the foot of the post are horizontal beams and diagonal beams to carry the weight of the uprights. 