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Created by, permitted by, in conformity with, or relating to, law; as, a legal obligation; a legal standard or test; a legal procedure; a legal claim; a legal trade; anything is legal which the laws do not forbid.

as an arrow; to fire the charge of, as a gun. (b) To release, as from an engagement or obligation. [Colloq.] To let out. (a) To allow to go forth; as, to let out a prisoner. (b) To extend or loosen, as the folds of a garment; to enlarge; to suffer to run out, as a cord. (c) To lease; to give out for performance by con…

That which one is under obligation to pay, or for which one is liable. Specifically, in the pl.,

Feudal Custom), that homage of one sovereign or prince to another which acknowledged an obligation of fealty and services. -- Liege poustie Etym: [L. legitima potestas] (Scots Law), perfect, i. e., legal, power; specif., having health requisite to do legal acts. -- Liege widowhood, perfect, i. e., pure, widowhood. [O…

habitants where the scene of an action or story is laid. -- Local option, the right or obligation of determining by popular vote within certain districts, as in each county, city, or town, whether the sale of alcoholic beverages within the district shall be allowed.

Free from constraint or obligation; not bound by duty, habit, etc. ; -- with from or of. Now I stand Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thoughts Addison.

Of or pertaining to a mean or average; mean; as, medial alligation.

Relating to duty or obligation; pertaining to those intentions and actions of which right and wrong, virtue and vice, are predicated, or to the rules by which such intentions and actions ought to be directed; relating to the practice, manners, or conduct of men as social beings in relation to each other, as respects ri…

A period during which an obligor has a legal right to delay meeting an obligation, esp. such a period granted, as to a bank, by a moratory law.

to postpone or delay for a period the time at which notes, bills of exchange, and other obligations, shall mature or become due.

Hence: To pledge, either literally or figuratively; to make subject to a claim or obligation. Mortgaging their lives to covetise. Spenser. I myself an mortgaged to thy will. Shak.

m wine and strong drink, and to practice extraordinary purity of life and devotion, the obligation being for life, or for a certain time. The word is also used adjectively.

A substitution of a new debt for an old one; also, the remodeling of an old obligation.

Acknowledging, or complying with, obligation; trustworthy. [R.] The main difference between people seems to be, that one man can come under obligations on which you can rely, -- is obligable; and another is not. Emerson.

To bring or place under obligation, moral or legal; to hold by a constraining motive. "Obligated by a sense of duty." Proudfit. That's your true plan -- to obligate The present ministers of state. Churchill.

In an obligatory manner; by reason of obligation. Foxe.

Binding in law or conscience; imposing duty or obligation; requiring performance or forbearance of some act; -- often followed by on or upon; as, obedience is obligatory on a soldier. As long as the law is obligatory, so long our obedience is due. Jer. Taylor.

To constrain by physical, moral, or legal force; to put under obligation to do or forbear something. The obliging power of the law is neither founded in, nor to be measured by, the rewards and punishments annexed to it. South. Religion obliges men to the practice of those virtues which conduce to the preservation of ou…

Obligation. [R.] I will not resist, therefore, whatever it is, either of divine or human obligement, that you lay upon me. Milton.

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.