Dictionary

upright man en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (UK, archaic, qualifier:thieves' cant) The leader of a group of thieves or vagrants.
   • I hope then you can cant, for by your cudgels, you sirra are an upright man. 1611, Thomas Middleton, The Roaring Girle:
   • And the gentry had kind hearts, and would have given baith lap and pannel to ony puir gypsy; and there was not one, from Johnnie Faa the upright man, to little Christie that was in the panniers, would cloyed a dud from them. 1815, Sir Walter Scott, Guy Mannering:
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see upright, man.
   • Later He gave him freedom from the Lord to live alone as an upright man to cultivate and keep His garden called Eden. 2013, Danson Enogiomwan Ubebe, Return to God: The ABC of 'set Free by Knowing the Truth', →ISBN, page 19:

Forms

Synonyms

criminal leader