ERECTION, in a general sense, the art of raising or elevating any thing; as the erection of a perpendicular, &c. It is also used in a figurative sense; as the erection of a bishopric, marquise, &c.
ERECTION is particularly used by medical writers, for the state of the penis when swelled and distended by the action of the muscles called ereptores. See ANATOMY, n° 371, u, y.
There is also an erection of the clitoris, which is performed by muscles for that purpose. Ibid. n° 372, c.