Crossword clues for compel
compel
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Compel \Com*pel"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Compelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Compelling.] [L. compellere, compulsum, to drive together, to compel, urge; com- + pellere to drive: cf. OF. compellir. See Pulse.]
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To drive or urge with force, or irresistibly; to force; to constrain; to oblige; to necessitate, either by physical or moral force.
Wolsey . . . compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once.
--Hallam.And they compel one Simon . . . to bear his cross.
--Mark xv. 21. -
To take by force or violence; to seize; to exact; to extort. [R.]
Commissions, which compel from each The sixth part of his substance.
--Shak. -
To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.
Easy sleep their weary limbs compelled.
--Dryden.I compel all creatures to my will.
--Tennyson. To gather or unite in a crowd or company. [A Latinism] ``In one troop compelled.''
--Dryden.-
To call forth; to summon. [Obs.]
--Chapman.She had this knight from far compelled.
--Spenser.Syn: To force; constrain; oblige; necessitate; coerce. See Coerce.
Compel \Com*pel"\, v. i.
To make one yield or submit. ``If she can not entreat, I can
compel.''
--Shak.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-14c., from Old French compellir, from Latin compellere "to drive together, drive to one place" (of cattle), "to force or compel" (of persons), from com- "together" (see com-) + pellere "to drive" (see pulse (n.1)). Related: Compelled; compelling.
Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context transitive archaic literally English) To drive together, round up (rfex) 2 (context transitive English) To overpower; to subdue. 3 (context transitive English) To force, constrain or coerce. 4 (context transitive English) To exact, extort, (make) produce by force. 5 (context obsolete English) To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate. 6 (context obsolete English) To gather or unite in a crowd or company. 7 (context obsolete English) To call forth; to summon.
WordNet
Usage examples of "compel".
Bremer was so concerned by the tone of the aardwolf that he felt compelled to write an accompanying note at the end of the report, in which he downplayed its analysis of the worsening conditions in Iraq.
House, in judging of elections under this clause acts as a judicial tribunal, with like power to compel attendance of witnesses.
Even though he would soon face charges for the murder of Haruki Ikegami and the Bojinka plot, not to mention the original Trade Center bombing, Yousef seemed compelled to regale the agents with his accomplishments.
He sails from Brundusium to Greece 243 He besieges Pompey at Dyrrhachium 244 Is compelled to retire 241 Battle of Pharsalia, and defeat of Pompey 244 Pompey flies to Egypt 245 His death 245 Caesar is appointed Dictator a second time 245 The Alexandrine War 245 47.
When we happened to find those places already tenanted by other men, we forced them by violence to quit the premises, and defrauded the miserable victims of prostitution of the mean salary the law allows them, after compelling them to yield to our brutality.
The amphicyon glared in helpless rage at the small human sitting high above it, the human that was forcing, bending, compelling.
He would have loved to have breakfast and hot coffee, but he felt compelled to seek out Laird and perhaps, if his hunches were correct, even catch Lucking and Barker at the museum unloading their last shipment of Anasazi artifacts before the pair headed east into a winter hiding.
Querini was foolish enough to enquire from me whether I had kept on my breeches, and as I answered that I had been compelled to lend them to Juliette, he looked very unhappy, sat down in a corner of the room, and refused to dance.
It was during this truce that the best-known events of Dutch history occurred--the Synod of Dort, the suppression of the Republicans and Arminians by Maurice of Nassau, when he put Olden Barnevelt to death, and compelled the most illustrious of all Dutchmen, Grotius, to make his escape packed in a box of books.
Surely truces, without even an arriere pensee of difference of opinion, between those who are compelled to take widely different sides during the greater part of their lives, must be of infinite service to those who can enter on them.
Captain, addressing Bill, who, one is compelled to admit, was giving a rather close impersonation of such a bird in articulo mortis.
Both Christie and Bullen were compelled to assist in paddling, as well as to labor at the most menial tasks when in camp, receiving as a recompense only kicks and blows.
Already they have been compelled by that mysterious power to suppress the slave-making wars which were formerly waged every year from Kordofan and Sennaar, and which are still being waged from the independent kingdoms of Darfur, Waday, Bagirmi, and Bornu.
When she learned that the baron was about to bring home a mistress, she had been moved to great emotion, believing that she must yield the sceptre of the household and abdicate in favor of the Baronne du Guenic, whose subject she was now compelled to be.
He went fast, knowing that his careful battle line would be shredded by the oaks, but also knowing that any chance of finding an open Yankee flank was too compelling to be ignored.