in a general sense, the art of raising or elevating anything; as the erection of a perpendicular, &c. It is also used in a figurative sense; as the erection of a bishopric, marquisate, &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 erectores. See Anatomy, p. 739.

There is also an erection of the clitoris which is performed by muscles for that purpose.