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

istinguished 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.

Gram.), 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.

n 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…

e, 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 argum…

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.

Discharge from a debt or an obligation; acquittance. Omittance is no quittance. Shak.

Reciprocal advantages, obligations, or rights; reciprocation. Reciprocity treaty, or Treaty of reciprocity, a treaty concluded between two countries, conferring equal privileges as regards customs or charges on imports, or in other respects.

Adjustment of claims and accounts; settlement of obligations, liabilities, etc. Even reckoning makes lasting friends, and the way to make reckonings even is to make them often. South. He quitted London, never to return till the day of a terrible and memorable reckoning had arrived. Macaulay.

An obligation of record entered into before some court of record or magistrate duly authorized, with condition to do some particular act, as to appear at the same or some other court, to keep the peace, or pay a debt. A recognizance differs from a bond, being witnessed by the record only, and not by the party's seal.…

t to admit, hold, or the like; to admit with a formal acknowledgment; as, to recognize an obligation; to recognize a consul.

To ransom, liberate, or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying a price or ransom; to ransom; to rescue; to recover; as, to redeem a captive, a pledge, and the like. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. Ps. xxv. 22. The Almighty from the gr…

Subject to an obligation of redemtion; conditioned upon a promise of redemtion; payable; due; as, bonds, promissory notes, etc. , redeemabble in gold, or in current money, or four months after date.

To relieve from something that confines, burdens, or oppresses, as from pain, trouble, obligation, penalty.

The act of releasing, as from confinement or obligation. Milton.

Discharge from that which is due; relinquishment of a claim, right, or obligation; pardon of transgression; release from forfeiture, penalty, debt, etc. This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Matt. xxvi. 28. That ples, therefore, . . . Will gain thee no remission. Milto…