Meaning
Perfectly well, sound or in good working order; most often said of someone's health, especially after illness, injury or repair. Strongest in British English but widely understood elsewhere, and usually built around 'be' or 'feel'. Cheerful, informal register, almost always reassuring and especially linked to recovered health. Regional use: General English; strongest in British English.
Origin
The Oxford English Dictionary dates '(as) right as rain', meaning absolutely fine or completely fit and well, from 1865, and it became common in Britain in the late 1800s before spreading to America. It was a latecomer to a long family of similes built on 'right' meaning true or correct: right as an adamant (Romance of the Rose, c. 1400), right as a line (recorded as a proverb by 1546), right as a gun (1622), right as my leg (1664), right as a trivet (Dickens, 1837) and right as ninepence. Why rain was chosen is not documented. The explanation with best support is phonetic: the alliteration and near-rhyme helped this version outlast its rivals, in Quinion's words 'just a play on words'. Suggestions that rain was prized for health-giving Victorian properties, or that British rain stands for certainty, are speculation and no early source confirms either. Quinion's earliest example is Max Beerbohm's Yet Again (1909), slightly later than the OED's dating, so even the first record carries minor uncertainty.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- as right as rain
- be right as rain
- feel right as rain
- right as rain again
Usage Examples
- A week after the operation he was back on his feet and feeling right as rain.
- Don't worry about the delivery glitch; the system will be right as rain once the update finishes installing.
- She sounded right as rain on the phone this morning, despite the cast on her arm.