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or hesitating in decision or action; responding on the instant; immediate; as, prompt in obedience or compliance; -- said of persons. Very discerning and prompt in giving orders. Clarendon. Tell him I am prompt To lay my crown at's feet. Shak. Any you, perhaps, too prompt in your replies. Dryden.

mpt; quickness of decision and action when occasion demands; alacrity; as, promptitude in obedience. Men of action, of promptitude, and of courage. I. Taylor.

to chasten; as, to punish traitors with death; a father punishes his child for willful disobedience. A greater power Now ruled him, punished in the shape he sinned. Milton.

to have a difference; to fall out; to be or become antagonistic. Our people quarrel with obedience. Shak. But some defect in her Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed. Shak.

That form of delusion which leads to extravagant and absurd undertakings or sacrifices in obedience to a morbidly romantic ideal of duty or honor, as illustrated by the exploits of Don Quixote in knight-errantry.

osition in the Chambers, mainly monarchists who rallied to the support of the Republic in obedience to the encyclical put forth by Pope Leo XIII. in Feb., 1892.

renounce, and resist by force, the authority of the ruler or government to which one owes obedience. See Rebellion. The murmur and the churl's rebelling. Chaucer. Ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the Lord. Josh. xxii. 16.

elling; open and avowed renunciation of the authority of the government to which one owes obedience, and resistances to its officers and laws, either by levying war, or by aiding others to do so; an organized uprising of subjects for the purpose of coercing or overthrowing their lawful ruler or government by force; rev…

To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense. Deut. xxii. 35. And every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward. Heb. ii. 2.

Obstinate in disobedience; contumacious; stubborn; unmanageable; as, a refractory child; a refractory beast. Raging appetites that are Most disobedient and refractory. Shak.

mber of any religious order or community who has taken the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and who has been solemnly recognized by the church. Bp. Fitzpatrick.

recognition of the existence of a god or of gods having power over their destiny, to whom obedience, service, and honor are due; the feeling or expression of human love, fear, or awe of some superhuman and overruling power, whether by profession of belief, by observance of rites and ceremonies, or by the conduct of lif…

Proceeding from an unwilling mind; granted with reluctance; as, reluctant obedience. Mitford.

The straight course; adherence to duty; obedience to lawful authority, divine or human; freedom from guilt, -- the opposite of moral wrong.

Designated or exalted by a divine sanction; possessing the highest title to obedience, honor, reverence, or veneration; entitled to extreme reverence; venerable. Such neighbor nearness to our sacred [royal] blood Should nothing privilege him. Shak. Poet and saint to thee alone were given, The two most sacred names of e…

ufficient means of redemption and salvation, by the satisfactory and meritorius death and obedience of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. Bp. Sanderson. -- Sat`is*fac"to*ri*ty, adv. -- Sat`is*fac"to*ri*ness, n.

hired helper. slave, etc., on a superior, employer, master, or the like; also, spiritual obedience and love. "O God . . . whose service is perfect freedom." Bk. of Com. Prayer. Madam, I entreat true peace of you, Which I will purchase with my duteous service. Shak. God requires no man's service upon hard and unreasona…

submissive; slavish; mean; cringing; fawning; as, servile flattery; servile fear; servile obedience. She must bend the servile knee. Thomson. Fearing dying pays death servile breath. Shak.

Transgression of the law of God; disobedience of the divine command; any violation of God's will, either in purpose or conduct; moral deficiency in the character; iniquity; as, sins of omission and sins of commission. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. John viii. 34. Sin is the transgression of the law. 1…

To render submissive; to bring under command; to reduce to mildness or obedience; to tame; as, to subdue a stubborn child; to subdue the temper or passions.