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.
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.
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.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
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.
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.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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).
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.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
bolt upright
In a rigidly vertical position: sat 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.