by right
Language: English
Part of speech: prep_phrase
Pronunciation: enpr: bī′ rīt′
ipa: /ˌbaɪ̯ ˈɹaɪ̯t/
ipa: /ˌbʌɪ̯ ˈɹʌɪ̯t/
ipa: /ˌbʌi̯ ˈɹʌi̯t/
ipa: /ˌbəi̯ ˈɹəi̯t/
ipa: /ˌbɑe̯ ˈɹɑe̯t/
ipa: /ˌbaj ˈɾajʈ/
Forms: form: by rights
Etymology: From by + right (“that which complies with justice, law or reason; legal, just, or moral entitlement”).
Senses: examples: text: The post of vice-president should, by right, have been given to John.
text: Whiche praise, with the honour thereunto due, as inheritaunce discendeth by righte unto his most noble sonne, our moste dere soueraigne lorde that nowe presently raigneth. For, as Tulli [i.e., Marcus Tullius Cicero] saithe, the best inheritance that the fathers leue to their children, excellynge all other patrimonie, is the glorie or praise of vertue and noble actis.
ref: 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of the Fifthe Branche, Called Circumspection, Shewed in Reprinse”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 1st book, page 104:
text: A huſband and a ſon thou ovveſt to me, / And thou a kingdome, all of you allegeance: / The ſorrovv that I haue by right is yours, / And all the pleaſures you vſurpe are mine.
ref: c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], signature C, verso:
text: Ovve not all Creatures by juſt right to thee / Duty and Service, nor to ſtay till bid, / But tender all their povver?
ref: 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 45, lines 325–327:
text: [T]all and stately men, and fair ladies, worthy of the days when the gentry of England were by due right the leaders of the people, by personal prowess and beauty, as well as by intellect and education.
ref: 1855, Charles Kingsley, “How Amyas Came Home the First Time”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, […], volume I, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 32:
text: Well, whether the gentlemen really do deprive us of any little matters which ought to be ours by rights, I cannot say for certain; but the opinion of the old ones is they do.
ref: 1863 October 24, Charles Dickens, “Titbull’s Alms-houses”, in The Uncommercial Traveller, new edition, London: Chapman & Hall, […], published 1866, →OCLC, page 192, column 2:
text: He told me not to tell anyone. I suppose that I should not by rights have told you.
ref: 1884, H[enry] Rider Haggard, chapter VII, in Dawn […], volume I, London: Hurst and Blackett, […], →OCLC, page 101:
text: The rest will be speculators, that's men trying to get between you and the oilmen to get some of the money that ought, by rights, come to you.
ref: 2007 September 27, Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood, spoken by Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), Los Angeles, Calif.: Paramount Vantage; Miramax Films, →OCLC:
text: By rights I ought to have been lolling in bed this morning, but Nancy was ill and I had to goalkeep for the Second.
ref: 2011 February 21, Eilidh Nisbet, “February 1951”, in Giddy Old School: The Diary of a Swot 1948 to 1951, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 268:
synonyms: fairly
in fairness
in justice
glosses: According to what is right, or what one is legally or morally entitled to; justly, properly, rightfully.
examples: text: And ſome [fowl], becauſe the light doth them offend, / Neuer appeare, but in the darke, or night. / Other reioyce, to ſe the fire ſo bright / And wene to play in it, as they pretend: / Alas, of that ſort may I be, by right. / For to withſtand her loke I am not able: / Yet can I not hide me in no dark place: […]
ref: a. 1543 (date written), [Thomas Wyatt], “How the Louer Perisheth in His Delight, as the Flie in the Fire”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: […] Richard Tottel, published 10 August 1557 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, folio 21, verso:
glosses: In reality; correctly, to tell the truth, truthfully.
Related terms: aright
arightly
as of right
bang to rights
dead to rights
to rights