- Obliging
- Oblige O*blige" ([-o]*bl[imac]j"; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
{Obliged} ([-o]*bl[imac]jd"); p. pr. & vb. n. {Obliging}
([-o]*bl[imac]"j[i^]ng).] [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.]
[1913 Webster]
He had obliged all the senators and magistrates firmly to himself. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
2. To constrain by physical, moral, or legal force; to put under obligation to do or forbear something. [1913 Webster]
The obliging power of the law is neither founded in, nor to be measured by, the rewards and punishments annexed to it. --South. [1913 Webster]
Religion obliges men to the practice of those virtues which conduce to the preservation of our health. --Tillotson. [1913 Webster]
3. To bind by some favor rendered; to place under a debt; hence, to do a favor to; to please; to gratify; to accommodate. [1913 Webster]
Thus man, by his own strength, to heaven would soar, And would not be obliged to God for more. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
The gates before it are brass, and the whole much obliged to Pope Urban VIII. --Evelyn. [1913 Webster]
I shall be more obliged to you than I can express. --Mrs. E. Montagu. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
