Search the Dictionary

to give an injunction to; to direct with authority; to order; to charge. High matter thou enjoin'st me. Milton. I am enjoined by oath to observe three things. Shak.

One who enjoins.

Direction; command; authoritative admonition. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

alled Domesday Book. -- Ancient lights (Law), windows and other openings which have been enjoined without molestation for more than twenty years. In England, and in some of the United States, they acquire a prescriptive right.

To order; to direct; to enjoin; to command. That Power who bids the ocean ebb and flow. Pope Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee. Matt. xiv. 28 I was bid to pick up shells. D. Jerrold.

The hero of a mediæval French nursery legend, who, leaving home, enjoined his young wife not to open a certain room in his castle. She entered it, and found the murdered bodies of his former wives. -- Also used adjectively of a subject which it is forbidden to investigate. The Bluebeard chamber of his mind, into which…

A system of rules and ceremonies, enjoined by law, or established by custom, in religious worship, social intercourse, or the courts of princes; outward form. The gorgeous ceremonial of the Burgundian court. Prescott.

or impose, as a task, duty, or trust; to command, instruct, or exhort with authority; to enjoin; to urge earnestly; as, to charge a jury; to charge the clergy of a diocese; to charge an agent. Moses . . . charged you to love the Lord your God. Josh. xxii. 5. Cromwell, I charge thee, fing away ambition. Shak.…

To urge; to enjoin. [R.] Shak.

Obligatory; enjoined by authority; necessary; due to complusion. This contribution therestening fall infinitely short of their hopes, they soon made it compulsory. Burke.

Containing directions; enjoining; instructing; directorial.

That which is dispensed, dealt out, or appointed; that which is enjoined or bestowed; especially (Theol.),

ver one's accounts. If we go over the laws of Christianity, we shall find that . . . they enjoin the same thing. Tillotson.

To command; to enjoin. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

To lay as a charge, burden, tax, duty, obligation, command, penalty, etc.; to enjoin; to levy; to inflict; as, to impose a toll or tribute. What fates impose, that men must needs abide. Shak. Death is the penalty imposed. Milton. Thou on the deep imposest nobler laws. Waller.

Laying as a duty; enjoining.

The act of imposing, laying on, affixing, enjoining, inflicting, obtruding, and the like. "From imposition of strict laws." Milton. Made more solemn by the imposition of hands. Hammond.

See Enjoin.

The act of enjoining; the act of directing, commanding, or prohibiting.

To enjoin upon; to command. [Obs. & R.] They join them penance, as they call it. Tyndale.