English Dictionary: obliged | by the DICT Development Group |
2 results for obliged | |
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: | |
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From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Oblige \O*blige"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Obliged}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Obliging}.] [OF. obligier, F. obliger, L. obligare; ob (see {Ob-}) + ligare to bind. See {Ligament}, and cf. {Obligate}.] 1. To attach, as by a bond. [Obs.] He had obliged all the senators and magistrates firmly to himself. --Bacon. 2. To constrain by physical, moral, or legal force; to put under obligation to do or forbear something. The obliging power of the law is neither founded in, nor to be measured by, the rewards and punishments annexed to it. --South. Religion obliges men to the practice of those virtues which conduce to the preservation of our health. --Tillotson. 3. To bind by some favor rendered; to place under a debt; hence, to do a favor to; to please; to gratify; to accommodate. Thus man, by his own strength, to heaven would soar, And would not be obliged to God for more. --Dryden. The gates before it are brass, and the whole much obliged to Pope Urban VIII. --Evelyn. I shall be more obliged to you than I can express. --Mrs. E. Montagu. |