upright

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an empty sack cannot stand upright

proverb One must eat in order to carry out one's duties. Have some dinner before you go back to your research. An empty sack cannot stand upright, you know. Now that I'm living with my parents again, my mom is constantly trying to feed me throughout my work day. "An empty sack cannot stand upright!" she always says. We should really take a lunch break soon—an empty sack cannot stand upright, as they say.

See also: an, cannot, empty, sack, stand, upright

bolt upright

1. verb To suddenly sit or stand up from a reclining position. I bolted upright in bed when the phone rang in the middle of the night.

2. adjective Very erect in posture. The teacher instructed us to be bolt upright on the stage during the assembly.

See also: bolt, upright

dimber damber upright man

obsolete slang The leader of a band of thieves, miscreants, or gypsies. He walked through the town, this dimber damber upright man, quietly marking people as targets for his band of rogues who lurked in the shadows.

sit bolt upright

1. To have a very erect posture while sitting. The teacher demands that we all sit bolt upright during the lesson, scolding us should we begin to slouch. The seat of the train was so stiff that I ended up sitting bolt upright for nearly three hours.

2. To very suddenly or abruptly assume an erect posture while sitting. I awoke from the nightmare and sat bolt upright in my bed. We all sat bolt upright when the principal suddenly barged into class.

An empty sack cannot stand upright.

Prov. A poor or hungry person cannot function properly. Sit down and have something to eat before you go back to work. An empty sack can't stand upright.

See also: an, cannot, empty, sack, stand, upright

sit bolt upright

to sit up straight. Tony sat bolt upright and listened to what the teacher was saying to him. After sitting bolt upright for almost an hour in that crowded airplane, I swore I would never fly again.

bolt upright

Precisely perpendicular, erect in carriage, as in She sat bolt upright in her pew. This expression was used in slightly different form by Chaucer in the late 1300s: "She was ... long as a mast and upright as a bolt" ( The Miller's Tale).

See also: bolt, upright

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bolt ˈupright

with your back very straight in an upright position: The noise woke her suddenly and she sat bolt upright in bed.

See also: bolt, upright

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

bolt upright

In a rigidly vertical position: sat bolt upright.

See also: bolt, upright

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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References in periodicals archive ?

"We believe Upright Lister and Upright Local can change the operations for secondhand resellers and save them time by consistently and efficiently listing their great inventory online," says CEO, David Engle.

Upright Labs Brings New Technology Solutions to Resale Industry

While the upright stance in gorillas is pretty rare, the difference is that other gorillas might walk upright "for a few seconds or a few steps," this 18-year-old can stroll around on his hind legs for an extended period and, in fact, seems to prefer to, especially during urgent times when it comes to protecting his snacks.

Gorilla Strolls Like A Human So He 'Doesn't Get His Hands Dirty'

Speaking on the trade mission Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton TD said: "This announcement by Instant Upright is very welcome and shows what is possible for Irish companies in this region.

SEC awards $1mn contract to Instant Upright

Typically you need 13 uprights although it depends on the design.

Protect your crop; Clive Edwards explains how to make a fruit cage

Sassaman, who begins as the model of the upright military officer, meets his fall in Balad and Samarra, Iraq during the winter of 2003.

Philoctetes in Iraq

Hamstring stretch: Standing upright, straighten your legs and bend forwards towards the ground, keeping your legs straight.

Golf Clinic

that the Laetoli prints represented a type of bipedal walking that was fully upright and driven by the front of the foot, particularly the big toe, much like humans today, and quite different to bipedal walking of chimpanzees and other apes."

We walked the walk much earlier

Yesterday Mr Upright, of Bedlington, Northumberland, joined deputy campaign manager for the EFVA, Sid West, along with campaign manager David Langham as they launched the North East group.

Vets in fight for pension rights

According to that premise, the expansion of savannas prompted our ape-like forebears to descend from trees and begin walking upright to find food more efficiently, or to reach other trees for resources or shelter.

Early humans lived in Savannas, not forests

It''s a bagless, cordless upright that can be used as a handheld cleaner for the car.

Zena says... TRICKS of the TRADE

A new study shows that women can reduce the length of their first stage of labor by as much as an hour by walking and remaining upright (e.g.

A new study shows that women can reduce the length of their first stage of labor by as much as an hour by walking and remaining upright (e.g. sitting, standing, kneeling, squatting, etc.) rather than lying down

Damage is common along an upright's first 6" to 12" of column from the floor due to fork truck impact, especially at end rows, tunnels, drive thrus and intersections, where maneuvering is tight.