Word.ws English Dictionary

straightening up and flying right

straightening up and flying right is the present participle and gerund of straighten up and fly right.

Meaning of straighten up and fly right

Verb

straighten up and fly right (third-person singular simple present straightens up and flies right, present participle straightening up and flying right, simple past straightened up and flew right, past participle straightened up and flown right)

  1. (colloquial, idiomatic) To start behaving properly; get one's act together.
    • Now, we are going to straighten up and fly right is what was said. Well, we didn't straighten up and fly right. We continued our wild spending at home and abroad.1973, United States, Foreign assistance and related agencies appropriations for 1974, hearings …, 93-1, Subcommittee on Foreign Operations and Related Agencies …, →OCLC, page 801
    Synonyms:
    get right

Questions about straightening up and flying right

What is straightening up and flying right the present participle and gerund of?
Straightening up and flying right is the present participle and gerund of straighten up and fly right.

Words near straightening up and flying right in the dictionary

  1. straightenest
  2. straighteneth
  3. straightening
  4. straightening out
  5. straightening up
  6. straightening up and flying right
  7. straightenings
  8. straightens
  9. straightens out
  10. straightens up
  11. straightens up and flies right

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: straightening up and flying right (page history and authors); straighten up and fly right (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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