# erection
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ērectiō, ērectiōnis, noun of action from perfect passive participle ērectus, from verb erigō, from prefix ē- (“out of”) + regō, + action suffix -iō.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ɪˈɹɛkʃən/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛkʃən

### Noun

erection (countable and uncountable, plural erections)
* (uncountable) The act of building or putting up or together of something.
    Synonyms: building, construction
* (countable) Anything erected or built.
    Synonyms: building, construction
    The Empire State Building was once the world's tallest erection.
** 1948, George Stephen Baker, Ship Design, Resistance and Screw Propulsion, page 194:If any serious number of deck erections have been left unfaired, these percentages will be too low.
* (uncountable or countable, ecclesiastical) Formal approval and official establishment of an institution such as a society or a monastery by higher church authorities.
** 1842, Patrick Robertson, Stewarton Case: Report of the Pleadings […] , page 43:There is some obscurity attaching to the only other one of those alleged erections of parishes, the case of Foot Dee, near Aberdeen.
** 1949, Bernard Joseph Ristuccia, Quasi-religious Societies: A Historical Synopsis and a Commentary, page 65:If the erection of a society is made with pontifical authority, then the society is one of pontifical legal status from its inception.
** 2000, Rose M. McDermott, “Canon 610”, in John P. Beal et al., editors, New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, page 774:Concerns for its usefulness to the particular church and the institute should be seriously considered by the diocesan bishop and the major superior before the canonical erection of a house takes place.
* (uncountable, physiology) The physiological process by which erectile tissue, such as a penis or clitoris, becomes erect by being engorged with blood.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:erection
** 1997, Alan Hyde, Bodies of Law, Princeton University Press, published 1997, →ISBN, page 175:I think that the case also demonstrates some singular aspects of the penis as a narrator of tales, specifically the way in which the erection of a penis falls outside a man's conscious control and therefore threatens a carefully constructed master legal narrative in which bodily self-control graphically represents the self-government contemplated by a democratic legal society.
** 2006, Lori Marso, Feminist Thinkers and the Demands of Femininity: The Lives and Work of Intellectual Women, Routledge (2006), →ISBN, unnumbered pages (quoting Simone Beauvoir):
    There are men who say they cannot bear to show themselves naked before women unless in a state of erection; and indeed through erection the flesh becomes activity, potency, […]
** 2007, Edward J. Behrend-Martinez, Unfit for Marriage: Impotent Spouses on Trial in the Basque Region of Spain, 1650-1750, University of Nevada Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 14:A marriage was only consummated via erection, penetration, and insemination intra vas.
* (uncountable, physiology, of a penis or clitoris) The state or quality of being erect from engorgement with blood.
** 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:[…] but our experienc'd matron very soon, by chafing it with her hands, brought it to swell to that size and erection I had before seen it up to.
** 2008, Robert Crooks, Karla Baur, Our Sexuality, Thomson Wadsworth, published 2008, →ISBN, page 163:Older men typically require longer periods of time to achieve erection and reach orgasm.
** 2011, Alan L. Rubin, Diabetes for Dummies, Wiley Publishing, Inc., published 2008, →ISBN, page 104:A very rare complication is priapism, where the penis maintains its erection for many hours.
* (countable) A penis or clitoris that is erect.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:erect penis
    Hyponyms: priapism, permaboner, death erection, morning wood
    He placed his newspaper on his lap to hide his erection.
** 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 128:Nothing is more short-lived than the erection; like the crocus of spring, it is there for a moment, and then it is gone; one moment the penis is small, soft, and insignificant, and then in the next it is hard, rigid, and three and four times its previous size.
** 2002, Marguerite Crump, No B.O.!: The Head-to-Toe Book of Hygiene for Preteens, Free Spirit Publishing, published 2005, →ISBN, page 85:The surge of hormones during puberty means you might have lots of erections, even when you don't want them—like during school.
** 2006, Abha Dawesar, That Summer in Paris, Anchor Books, published 2007, →ISBN, page 259:Prem was sure everyone could see his erection through his pants, everyone but Maya, who he had been careful to keep to his side all the time
** 2007, Ken Follett, World Without End, Dutton, published 2007, →ISBN, page 244:He kissed her again, this time with a long, moist kiss that gave him an erection.

#### Derived terms

* erectionless
* miserection
* nonerection
* piloerection
* ptiloerection
* re-erection
* semierection

#### Related terms

* erect
* erector

#### Translations
### Further reading

* erection on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* neoteric

## Middle French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ērectiō, ērectiōnem.

### Noun

erection f (plural erections)
* erection (of a building, etc.)
* erection (penile)

#### Descendants

* French: érection

### References

* erection on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)