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To attach, as by a bond. [Obs.] He had obliged all the senators and magistrates firmly to himself. Bacon.

The person to whom another is bound, or the person to whom a bond is given. Blackstone.

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

One who, or that which, obliges. Sir H. Wotton.

please; to refrain from obliging; to be unaccommodating to. Those . . . who slight and disoblige their friends, shall infallibly come to know the value of them by having none when they shall most need them. South. My plan has given offense to some gentlemen, whom it would not be very safe to disoblige. Addison.…

Release from obligation. [Obs.]

One who disobliges.

To furnish with something desired, needed, or convenient; to favor; to oblige; as, to accommodate a friend with a loan or with lodgings.

of provisions and drink); to supply in a fixed and limited quantity; as, the captain was obliged to allowance his crew; our provisions were allowanced.

Obliged to answer; liable to be called to account; liable to pay, indemnify, or make good; accountable; amenable; responsible; as, an agent is answerable to his principal; to be answerable for a debt, or for damages. Will any man argue that . . . he can not be justly punished, but is answerable only to God Swift.…

A state of being obliged to face an antagonist or a difficulty, when escape has become impossible. Embolden'd by despair, he stood at bay. Dryden. The most terrible evils are just kept at bay by incessant efforts. I. Taylor

Obliged; bound in gratitude; indebted. But being so beholden to the Prince. Tennyson.

Obliged; beholden. [Obs.] I was much bound and beholding to the right reverend father. Robynson (More's Utopia). So much hath Oxford been beholding to her nephews, or sister's children. Fuller.

, The state of being obliged or beholden. [Obs.] Sir P. Sidney.

Fig.: To oblige, restrain, or hold, by authority, law, duty, promise, vow, affection, or other moral tie; as, to bind the conscience; to bind by kindness; bound by affection; commerce binds nations to each other. Who made our laws to bind us, not himself. Milton.

Absolute; downright; unmixed; as, blank terror. Blank bar (Law), a plea put in to oblige the plaintiff in an action of trespass to assign the certain place where the trespass was committed; -- called also common bar. -- Blank cartridge, a cartridge containing no ball. -- Blank deed. See Deed. -- Blank door, or Blank…

Under obligation; bound by some favor rendered; obliged; beholden. This holy word, that teacheth us truly our bounden duty toward our Lord God in every point. Ridley.

ces of society. Delicacy of breeding, or that polite deference and respect which civility obliges us either to express or counterfeit towards the persons with whom we converse. Hume.

A tribute which tenants paid to their lord, in lieu of bran, which they were obliged to furnish for his hounds.

ir J. Davies. The gradual depature of all deeper signification from the word civility has obliged the creation of another word -- civilization. Trench.