To Ere'ct. v.a. [erectus, Latin.]

1. To raise in a strait line; to place perpendicularly to the horizon.

2. To Erect a Perpendicular. To cross one line by another at right angles.

3. To raise; to build.

                   Happier walls expect,
   Which, wand'ring long, at last thou shalt erect. Dryd. Virg.

   There are many monuments erected to benefactors to the republick. Addison's Remarks on Italy.

4. To establish anew; to settle.

   Great difference there is between their proceedings, who erect a new commonwealth which is to have neither regiment nor religion the same that was, and theirs who only reform a decayed estate. Hooker, b. v. s. 17.

   He suffers seventy-two distinct nations to be erected out of the first monarchy, under distinct governours. Raleigh.

5. To elevate; to exalt.

   I, who am a party, am not to erect myself a judge. Dryden's Fables, Preface.

   I am far from pretending infallibility: that would be to erect myself into an apostle. Locke on St. Paul's Epistles.

6. To raise consequences from premises.

   Men being too hasty to erect to themselves general notions and ill-grounded theories, find themselves deceived in their stock of knowledge. Locke.

   Malebranche erects this proposition, of seeing all things in God, upon their ruin. Locke.

7. To animate; not to depress; to encourage.

             Why should not hope
   As much erect our thoughts, as fear deject them. Denham.