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; by force or constraint.

Having the power of compulsion; constraining.

To put constraint upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds. [Obs., exept as used reflexively.] The king's person contains the unruly people from evil occasions. Spenser. Fear not, my lord: we can contain ourselves. Shak.

Unconstrained; easy; free. Vanbrugh.

To press heavily upon; to bear down upon with violence; hence, to constrain or compel; to bind; to distress, torment, or afflict. [Obs.] "Distrained with chains." Chaucer.

To urge, impel, or hurry forward; to force; to constrain; to urge, press, or bring to a point or state; as, to drive person by necessity, by persuasion, by force of circumstances, by argument, and the like. " Enough to drive one mad." Tennyson. He, driven to dismount, threatened, if I did not do the like, to do as much…

Hardship; constraint; pressure; imprisonment; restraint of liberty. The agreements . . . made with the landlords during the time of slavery, are only the effect of duress and force. Burke.

Freedom from constraint, formality, difficulty, embarrassment, etc.; facility; liberty; naturalness; -- said of manner, style, etc.; as, ease of style, of behavior, of address. True ease in writing comes from art, not chance. Pope. Whate'er he did was done with so much ease, In him alone 't was natural to please. Dryde…

Freedom from effort, constraint, or formality; -- said of style, manner, etc. With painful care, but seeming easiness. Roscommon.

At ease; free from pain, trouble, or constraint; as: (a) Free from pain, distress, toil, exertion, and the like; quiet; as, the patient is easy. (b) Free from care, responsibility, discontent, and the like; not anxious; tranquil; as, an easy mind. (c) Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth…

To force; to constrain; to compel to yield. [Obs.] Spenser.

To put force upon; to force; to constrain; to compel; as, to enforce obedience to commands. Inward joy enforced my heart to smile. Shak.

That which enforces, constraints, gives force, authority, or effect to; constraint; force applied. The rewards and punishment of another life, which the Almighty has established as the enforcements of his law. Locke.

Serving to enforce or constrain; compulsive. Marsion. -- En*for"cive*ly, adv.

Satisfied; contented; also, constrained. Shak. The learned Castalio was fain to make trechers at Basle to keep himself from starving. Locke.

Characterized by, or exhibiting, the manner of an intimate friend; not formal; unconstrained; easy; accessible. "In loose, familiar strains." Addison. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Shak.

The state of being familiar; intimate and frequent converse, or association; unconstrained intercourse; freedom from ceremony and constraint; intimacy; as, to live in remarkable familiarity.

To force or constrain by famine. He had famished Paris into a surrender. Burke.

To constrain to do or to forbear, by the exertion of a power not resistible; to compel by physical, moral, or intellectual means; to coerce; as, masters force slaves to labor.

The act of forcing; compulsion. [Obs.] It was imposed upon us by constraint; And will you count such forcement treachery J. Webster.