erection

Borrowed from Latin ērectiō, ērectiōnis, noun of action from perfect passive participle erectus, from verb erigō, from prefix e- (“out of”) + regō, + action suffix -iō.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪˈɹɛkʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkʃən

erection (countable and uncountable, plural erections)

1. (uncountable) The act of building or putting up or together of something; construction.
   

   Erection of a large tent
2. (countable) Anything erected or built.

   The Empire State Building was once the world's tallest erection.

3. (uncountable, physiology) The physiological process by which erectile tissue, such as a penis or clitoris, becomes erect by being engorged with blood.
   • 1997, Alan Hyde, Bodies of Law, Princeton University Press (1997), →ISBN, page 175:

     I think that the case also demonstrates some singular aspects of the penis as a narrator of tales, specifically the way in which the erection of a penis falls outside a man's conscious control and therefore threatens a carefully constructed master legal narrative in which bodily self-control graphically represents the self-government contemplated by a democratic legal society.

   • 2006, Lori Marso, Feminist Thinkers and the Demands of Femininity: The Lives and Work of Intellectual Women, Routledge (2006), →ISBN, unnumbered pages (quoting Simone Beauvoir):

     There are men who say they cannot bear to show themselves naked before women unless in a state of erection; and indeed through erection the flesh becomes activity, potency, […]

   • 2007, Edward J. Behrend-Martinez, Unfit for Marriage: Impotent Spouses on Trial in the Basque Region of Spain, 1650-1750, University of Nevada Press (2007), →ISBN, page 14:

     A marriage was only consummated via erection, penetration, and insemination intra vas.

4. (uncountable, physiology, of a penis or clitoris) The state or quality of being erect from engorgement with blood.
   • 1749, [John Cleland], Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: Printed [by Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], OCLC 731622352:

     […] but our experienc'd matron very soon, by chafing it with her hands, brought it to swell to that size and erection I had before seen it up to.

   • 2008, Robert Crooks & Karla Baur, Our Sexuality, Thomson Wadsworth (2008), →ISBN, page 163:

     Older men typically require longer periods of time to achieve erection and reach orgasm.

   • 2011, Alan L. Rubin, Diabetes for Dummies, Wiley Publishing, Inc. (2008), →ISBN, page 104:

     A very rare complication is priapism, where the penis maintains its erection for many hours.

5. (countable) A penis or clitoris that is erect.

   He placed his newspaper on his lap to hide his erection.

   • 2002, Marguerite Crump, No B.O.!: The Head-to-Toe Book of Hygiene for Preteens, Free Spirit Publishing (2005), →ISBN, page 85:

     The surge of hormones during puberty means you might have lots of erections, even when you don't want them—like during school.

   • 2006, Abha Dawesar, That Summer in Paris, Anchor Books (2007), →ISBN, page 259:

     Prem was sure everyone could see his erection through his pants, everyone but Maya, who he had been careful to keep to his side all the time

   • 2007, Ken Follett, World Without End, Dutton (2007), →ISBN, page 244:

     He kissed her again, this time with a long, moist kiss that gave him an erection.

• (act of building): building, construction.
• (anything erected or built): building, construction.
• (state of a penis being erect): see also Thesaurus:erection.
• (an erect penis): see also Thesaurus:erect penis.

• (an erect penis): priapism, permaboner, death erection, morning wood

• erect
• erector

• neoteric

Borrowed from Latin ērectiō, ērectiōnem.

erection f (plural erections)

1. erection (of a building, etc.)
2. erection (penile)

• French: érection

• erection on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330-1500) (in French)