Part 814

E`rec*til"i*ty (?), n. The quality or state of being erectile.

E*rec"tion (?), n. [L. erectio: cf. F. érection.] 1. The act of erecting, or raising upright; the act of constructing, as a building or a wall, or of fitting together the parts of, as a machine; the act of founding or establishing, as a commonwealth or an office; also, the act of rousing to excitement or courage.

2. The state of being erected, lifted up, built, established, or founded; exaltation of feelings or purposes.

Her peerless height my mind to high erection draws up.

Sidney

3. State of being stretched to stiffness; tension.

4. Anything erected; a building of any kind.

5. (Physiol.) The state of a part which, from having been soft, has become hard and swollen by the accumulation of blood in the erectile tissue.

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E*rect"ive (?), a. Making erect or upright; raising; tending to erect.

E*rect"ly, adv. In an erect manner or posture.

E*rect"ness, n. Uprightness of posture or form.

E*rec"to-pat"ent (?), a. 1. (Bot.) Having a position intermediate between erect and patent, or spreading.

2. (Zoöl.) Standing partially spread and erect; -- said of the wings of certain insects.

E*rec"tor (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, erects.

2. (Anat.) A muscle which raises any part.

3. (Physics) An attachment to a microscope, telescope, or other optical instrument, for making the image erect instead of inverted.

Ere`long" (?; 115), adv. Before the &?;apse of a long time; soon; -- usually separated, ere long.

A man, . . . following the stag, erelong slew him.

Spenser.

The world, erelong, a world of tears must weep.

Milton.

||Er`e*ma*cau"sis (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; quietly + &?; burning, fr. &?; to burn.] A gradual oxidation from exposure to air and moisture, as in the decay of old trees or of dead animals.

Er"e*mit*age (?), n. See Hermitage.

Er"e*mite (?), n. [See Hermit.] A hermit.

Thou art my heaven, and I thy eremite.

Keats.

{ Er`e*mit"ic (?), Er`e*mit"ic*al (?), } a. Of or pertaining to an eremite; hermitical; living in solitude. "An eremitical life in the woods." Fuller. "The eremitic instinct." Lowell.