Search the Dictionary

Neglect or refusal to obey; violation of a command or prohibition. He is undutiful to him other actions, and lives in open disobedience. Tillotson.

Neglecting or refusing to obey; omitting to do what is commanded, or doing what is prohibited; refractory; not observant of duty or rules prescribed by authority; -- applied to persons and acts. This disobedient spirit in the colonies. Burke. Disobedient unto the word of the Lord. 1 Kings xiii. 26.

ect; a systematic or continuous attempt; an effort; a trial. To employ all my endeavor to obey you. Sir P. Sidney. To do one's endeavor, to do one's duty; to put forth strenuous efforts to attain an object; -- a phrase derived from the Middle English phrase "to do one's dever" (duty). "Mr. Prynne proceeded to show he h…

To escape from; to avoid. [Obs.] He who obeys, destruction shall eschew. Sandys.

apes, and fawned like hounds. Shak. Thou with trembling fear, Or like a fawning parasite, obeyest. Milton. Courtiers who fawn on a master while they betray him. Macaulay.

To perceive; to observe. [Obs.] Chaucer. To feel the helm (Naut.), to obey it.

To accept as authority; to adopt the opinions of; to obey; to yield to; to take as a rule of action; as, to follow good advice. Approve the best, and follow what I approve. Milton. Follow peace with all men. Heb. xii. 14. It is most agreeable to some men to follow their reason; and to others to follow their appetites.…

To obey the law of gravitation; to exert a force Or pressure, or tend to move, under the influence of gravitation; to tend in any direction or toward any object. Why does this apple fall to the ground Because all bodies gravitate toward each other. Sir W. Hamilton. Politicians who naturally gravitate towards the strong…

audience or attention to; to listen to; to heed; to accept the doctrines or advice of; to obey; to examine; to try in a judicial court; as, to hear a recitation; to hear a class; the case will be heard to-morrow.

listen; to lend the ear; to attend to what is uttered; to give heed; to hear, in order to obey or comply. The Furies hearken, and their snakes uncurl. Dryden. Hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you. Deut. iv. 1.

r come more amidships, so as to lessen the strain on the rudder. -- To feel the helm, to obey it. -- To right the helm, to put it amidships. -- To shift the helm, to bear the tiller over to the corresponding position on the opposite side of the vessel. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

mand; precept; injunction. [Archaic] See Behest. "At thy hest." Shak. Let him that yields obey the victor's hest. Fairfax. Yet I thy hest will all perform, at full. Tennyson.

an impulse; moving; impellent. Poor men! poor papers! We and they Do some impulsive force obey. Prior.

ive; irrespective. That obligation in general, under which we conceive ourselves bound to obey a law, independent of those resources which the law provides for its own enforcement. R. P. Ward.

To break; to violate; to transgress; to neglect to fulfill or obey; as, to infringe a law or contract. If the first that did the edict infringe, Had answered for his deed. Shak. The peace . . . was infringed by Appius Claudius. Golding.

ng. Having thus at length inquired the truth concerning law and dispense. Milton. And all obey and few inquire his will. Byron.

o neglect; to be faithful to. I have kept the faith. 2 Tim. iv. 7. Him whom to love is to obey, and keep His great command. Milton.

One who disobeys the law; a criminal. -- Law"break`ing, n. & a.

To give heed; to yield to advice; to follow admonition; to obey. Listen to me, and by me be ruled. Tennyson. To listen after, to take an interest in. [Obs.] Soldiers note forts, armories, and magazines; scholars listen after libraries, disputations, and professors. Fuller.

rapt in the rude manger lies. Milton. Would you meanly thus rely On power you know I must obey Prior. We can not bear to have others think meanly of them [our kindred]. I. Watts.