To drive or urge with force, or irresistibly; to force; to constrain; to oblige; to necessitate, either by physical or moral force. Wolsey . . . compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once. Hallam. And they compel one Simon . . . to bear his cross. Mark xv. 21.
To take by force or violence; to seize; to exact; to extort. [R.] Commissions, which compel from each The sixth part of his substance. Shak.
To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate. Easy sleep their weary limbs compelled. Dryden. I compel all creatures to my will. Tennyson.
To gather or unite in a crowd or company. [A Latinism] "In one troop compelled." Dryden.
To call forth; to summon. [Obs.] Chapman. She had this knight from far compelled. Spenser.
To make one yield or submit. "If she can not entreat, I can not compel." Shak.
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