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Bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable; as, the surety is liable for the debt of his principal.

serving an independent sovereign or master; bound by a feudal tenure; obliged to be faithful and loyal to a superior, as a vassal to his lord; faithful; loyal; as, a liege man; a liege subject.

To seek; to search. My subject does not oblige me to look after the water, or point forth the place where to it is now retreated. Woodward. -- To look at, to direct the eyes toward so that one sees, or as if to see; as, to look at a star; hence, to observe, examine, consider; as, to look at a matter without prejudice.…

To be obliged; to be necessitated; -- expressing either physical or moral necessity; as, a man must eat for nourishment; we must submit to the laws.

gnifying to, toward, before, against, reversely, etc.; also, as a simple intensive; as in oblige, to bind to; obstacle, something standing before; object, lit., to throw against; obovate, reversely, ovate. Ob- is commonly assimilated before c, f, g, and p, to oc-, of-, og-, and op-.

Putting under obligation; disposed to oblige or do favors; hence, helpful; civil; kind. Mons.Strozzi has many curiosities, and is very obliging to a stranger who desires the sight of them. Addison.

The state of being constrained, bound, or obliged; that which constrains or obliges; obligation; bond. [R.] Milton.

To have or possess, as something derived or bestowed; to be obliged to ascribe (something to some source); to be indebted or obliged for; as, he owed his wealth to his father; he owed his victoty to his lieutenants. Milton. O deem thy fall not owed to man's decree. Pope.

and privilege of life, to eat and sleep without any regard to glory. Burke. The law that obliges parishes to support the poor offers a premium for the encouragement of idleness. Franklin.

e of an insolvent. Wharton. Burrill. -- Privileged witnesses (Law) witnesses who are not obliged to testify as to certain things, as lawyers in relation to their dealings with their clients, and officers of state as to state secrets; also, by statute, clergymen and physicans are placed in the same category, so far as…

To oblige; to confer a favor on. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

To incite; to entice; to urge; to constrain; to oblige. These wretches put us upon all mischief. Swift. Put me not use the carnal weapon in my own defense. Sir W. Scott. Thank him who puts me, loath, to this revenge. Milton.

ship arriving in port, and suspected of being infected a malignant contagious disease, is obliged to forbear all intercourse with the shore; hence, such restraint or inhibition of intercourse; also, the place where infected or prohibited vessels are stationed.

o the duke's son that his visit should be retaliated. Sir T. Herbert. It is unlucky to be obliged to retaliate the injuries of authors, whose works are so soon forgotten that we are in danger of appearing the first aggressors. Swift.

dministration; to scrutinize the conduct or motives of individuals. Whose votes they were obliged to scrutinize. Ayliffe. Thscrutinized his face the closest. G. W. Cable.

To be obliged; must. [Obs.] "Me athinketh [I am sorry] that I shall rehearse it her." Chaucer.

a term alluding to the comedy character Simon Pure, who is impersonated by another and is obliged to prove himself to be the "real Simon Pure."

, an execution might be awarded against the body, lands, and goods of the debtor, and the obligee might hold the lands until out of the rents and profits of them the debt was satisfied; -- called also a pocket judgment. It is now fallen into disuse. Tomlins. Bouvier. -- Statute mile. See under Mile. -- Statute of lim…

Course; direction; as, the stretch of seams of coal. To be on the stretch, to be obliged to use one's utmost powers. -- Home stretch. See under Home, a.

Place of inferior rank. Persons who in their several subordinations would be obliged to follow the example of their superiors. Swift.