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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.

Disposition to please or oblige; obliging compliance with the wishes of others; a deportment indicative of a desire to please; courtesy; civility. These [ladies] . . . are by the just complaisance and gallantry of our nation the most powerful part of our people. Addison. They strive with their own hearts and keep them…

or should be, taken into account as a ground of opinion or action; motive; reason. He was obliged, antecedent to all other considerations, to search an asylum. Dryden. Some considerations which are necessary to the forming of a correct judgment. Macaulay.

To compel; to force; to necessiate; to oblige. The love of Christ constraineth us. 2. Cor. v. 14. I was constrained to appeal unto CActs xxviii. 19.

Anancient tenure of land, which obliged the tenant to give notice of an invasion by blowing a horn.

Indebted; obliged to. [R.] I stand debted to this gentleman. Shak.

which a debtor, to be liberated from his creditor, gives him a third person, who becomes obliged in his stead to the creditor, or to the person appointed by him. Pothier.

eserves, either of good or ill; desert. [Obs.] By many benefits and demerits whereby they obliged their adherents, [they] acquired this reputation. Holland.

rvalue and depreciate. Cudworth. To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself. Burke.

e, disconnect; hence it often has the force of a privative and negative, as in disarm, disoblige, disagree. Also intensive, as in dissever.

t of obedience. The most perfect, who have their passions in the best discipline, are yet obliged to be constantly on their guard. Rogers.

Anything nauseous that one is obliged to take; a disagreeable portion thrust upon one. I am for curing the world by gentle alteratives, not by violent doses. W. Irving. I dare undertake that as fulsome a dose as you give him, he shall readily take it down. South.

he Jews already had a Sabbath, which, as citizens and subjects of that economy, they were obliged to keep. Paley.

a crime, a guilt, or sin. To expiate his treason, hath naught left. Milton. The Treasurer obliged himself to expiate the injury. Clarendon.

lius Falcidius, a Roman tribune. Falcidian law (Civil Law), a law by which a testator was obliged to leave at least a fourth of his estate to the heir. Burrill.

To make hoarse. I shall be obliged to hoarsen my voice. Richardson.

, a loud outcry with which felons were anciently pursued, and which all who heard it were obliged to take up, joining in the pursuit till the malefactor was taken; in later usage, a written proclamation issued on the escape of a felon from prison, requiring all persons to aid in retaking him. Burrill.…

influence; to prevail on; to incite; to move by persuasion or influence. Shak. He is not obliged by your offer to do it, . . . though he may be induced, persuaded, prevailed upon, tempted. Paley. Let not the covetous desire of growing rich induce you to ruin your reputation. Dryden.

kind manner; congenially; with good will; with a disposition to make others happy, or to oblige. Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love. Rom. xii. 10.

d a banner, who possessed fiefs to a greater amount than the knight bachelor, and who was obliged to serve in war with a greater number of attendants. The dignity was sometimes conferred by the sovereign in person on the field of battle.