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

To constrain; to put under obligation. [R.] Bp. Gardiner.

A burden; an obligation. Onus probandi ( Etym: [L.], obligation to furnish evidence to prove a thing; the burden of proof.

A body of persons having some common honorary distinction or rule of obligation; esp., a body of religious persons or aggregate of convents living under a common rule; as, the Order of the Bath; the Franciscan order. Find a barefoot brother out, One of our order, to associate me. Shak. The venerable order of the Knight…

Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Obs.] This due obedience which they ought to the king. Tyndale. The love and duty I long have ought you. Spelman. [He] said . . . you ought him a thousand pound. Shak.

That stands out; undischarged; uncollected; not paid; as, outstanding obligations. Revenues . . . as well outstanding as collected. A. Hamilton.

To have an obligation to (some one) on account of something done or received; to be indebted to; as, to iwe the grocer for supplies, or a laborer for services.

Had or held under obligation of paying; due. There is more owing her than is paid. Shak.

Of or pertaining to a parent or to parents; as, parental authority; parental obligations.

sfy (another person) for service rendered, property delivered, etc.; to discharge one's obligation to; to make due return to; to compensate; to remunerate; to recompense; to requite; as, to pay workmen or servants. May no penny ale them pay [i. e., satisfy]. P. Plowman. [She] pays me with disdain. Dryden.…

The act of paying, or giving compensation; the discharge of a debt or an obligation. No man envieth the payment of a debt. Bacon.

tinguished from dolus and culpa, and hence relieving one from the duty of performing an obligation.

One who strives to put another under obligation; an officious person; hence, a flatterer. Used also adjectively. Smiling pickthanks, and base newsmongers. Shak.

am.), that form of the verb which is used to express possibility, liberty, power, will, obligation, or necessity, by the use of may, can, must, might, could, would, or should; as, I may go; he can write.

Prior engagement, obligation, or attachment, as by contract, promise, or affection. My preëngagements to other themes were not unknown to those for whom I was to write. Boyle.

the order of time; former; antecedent; anterior; previous; as, a prior discovery; prior obligation; -- used elliptically in cases like the following: he lived alone [in the time] prior to his marriage.

A breach of concord, amity, or obligation; a falling out; a difference; a disagreement; an antagonism in opinion, feeling, or conduct; esp., an angry dispute, contest, or strife; a brawl; an altercation; as, he had a quarrel with his father about expenses. I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of…

or a prefix with a noun or an adjective; as, a quasi contract, an implied contract, an obligation which has arisen from some act, as if from a contract; a quasi corporation, a body that has some, but not all, of the peculiar attributes of a corporation; a quasi argument, that which resembles, or is used as, an argumen…

Final discharge or acquittance, as from debt or obligation; that which silences claims; (Fig.) rest; death. When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin. Shak.

Released from obligation, charge, penalty, etc.; free; clear; absolved; acquitted. Chaucer. The owner of the ox shall be quit. Ex. xxi. 28.