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By rights   /baɪ raɪts/   Listen
noun
Right  n.  
1.
That which is right or correct. Specifically:
(a)
The straight course; adherence to duty; obedience to lawful authority, divine or human; freedom from guilt, the opposite of moral wrong.
(b)
A true statement; freedom from error of falsehood; adherence to truth or fact. "Seldom your opinions err; Your eyes are always in the right."
(c)
A just judgment or action; that which is true or proper; justice; uprightness; integrity. "Long love to her has borne the faithful knight, And well deserved, had fortune done him right."
2.
That to which one has a just claim. Specifically:
(a)
That which one has a natural claim to exact. "There are no rights whatever, without corresponding duties."
(b)
That which one has a legal or social claim to do or to exact; legal power; authority; as, a sheriff has a right to arrest a criminal.
(c)
That which justly belongs to one; that which one has a claim to possess or own; the interest or share which anyone has in a piece of property; title; claim; interest; ownership. "Born free, he sought his right." "Hast thou not right to all created things?" "Men have no right to what is not reasonable."
(d)
Privilege or immunity granted by authority.
3.
The right side; the side opposite to the left. "Led her to the Souldan's right."
4.
In some legislative bodies of Europe (as in France), those members collectively who are conservatives or monarchists. See Center, 5.
5.
The outward or most finished surface, as of a piece of cloth, a carpet, etc.
At all right, at all points; in all respects. (Obs.)
Bill of rights, a list of rights; a paper containing a declaration of rights, or the declaration itself. See under Bill.
By right, By rights, or By good rights, rightly; properly; correctly. "He should himself use it by right." "I should have been a woman by right."
Divine right, or
Divine right of kings, a name given to the patriarchal theory of government, especially to the doctrine that no misconduct and no dispossession can forfeit the right of a monarch or his heirs to the throne, and to the obedience of the people.
To rights.
(a)
In a direct line; straight. (R.)
(b)
At once; directly. (Obs. or Colloq.)
To set to rights, To put to rights, to put in good order; to adjust; to regulate, as what is out of order.
Writ of right (Law), a writ which lay to recover lands in fee simple, unjustly withheld from the true owner.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"By rights" Quotes from Famous Books



... entail—you need not fear that. We shall let you off easy enough—only too happy to oblige you. But I warn you, Verity, you may drop money buying the present tenant out. If half my agent tells me is true, the fellow must be a most confounded blackguard, up to the eyes in all manner of ungodly traffic. By rights we ought to have kicked him out years ago. But," his lordship chuckled—"I scruple to be hard on any man. We're none of us perfect, live and let live, you know. Only my dear fellow, I'm bound to put you on your guard; for he'll stick to the place like a leech and blood-suck you like a leech ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet
... into her straight, thin nose. But the mouth and chin—they were firmer than one might have expected. If, not knowing her, he had seen her driving in the Bois or upon Rotten Row, he would have been curious about her title. It had always seemed to him that she should by rights have been Her Royal Highness ...
— The Triflers • Frederick Orin Bartlett
... later he was half-carrying, half-dragging the inert figure of his jailer to the cell which by rights he should have been occupying himself. He dropped Moody on the narrow cot, relieved him of his keys and stepped out, grinning as he locked the door behind him. It would be a long, long time before the recreant warder ...
— The Monk of Hambleton • Armstrong Livingston
... Mr. Critz placidly, "but she hadn't ought to be. By rights she ought to sort of ooze out from under whilst I'm movin' the shells around, and I'd ought to sort of catch her in between my fingers and hold her there so you don't see her. Then when you say which ...
— Philo Gubb Correspondence-School Detective • Ellis Parker Butler
... and forgotten it. Now she felt so sure of it that it was beyond contempt of question. So the Manx sailor in whom Jenny had found so much to admire—the simple, brave, manly, generous, natural soul, all fresh air and by rights all sunshine—was no other than Capt'n Davy Quiggin! That thought brought the hot blood tingling to Mrs. Quiggin's cheeks with sensations of exquisite delight, and never before had her husband seemed ...
— Capt'n Davy's Honeymoon - 1893 • Hall Caine


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