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obey
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
obey
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
follow/obey your instinct(s) (=do what your instinct tells you to do)
▪ You should obey your instincts when dealing with strangers.
obey a command
▪ Your dog will soon learn to obey your commands.
obey an impulseformal (also yield to an impulseliterary) (= do something because you have a sudden very strong desire to do it)
▪ Yielding to an impulse, she called him on her mobile phone.
obey an order
▪ He refused to obey this order.
obey the law
▪ Citizens have a duty to obey the law.
obey/follow a rule
▪ She wasn’t going to obey their silly rules.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
command
▪ But where servility and not obedience is called for, then the command to obey clearly does not apply.
husband
▪ But would she obey her husband?
▪ That meant obeying my husband and that his decisions were final.
▪ Within marriage a wife was generally expected to obey her husband.
▪ But it was a wife's duty to obey her husband in all that was not sin.
▪ Girls of her day were taught to obey their in-laws and husbands.
▪ You get married and the Bible says you are to obey your husband.
instruction
▪ You've got to obey instructions - to the letter.
▪ People are supposed to observe the sign-posts and obey the instructions.
▪ Aggrieved, she refused to obey instructions to sit and watch the dancers and took a side door into the cloisters.
▪ First, some accept its authority and obey its instructions because they are binding on them.
▪ You are obliged to obey a reasonable instruction given by an authorised superior.
law
▪ The first great law is to obey...
obligation
▪ Citizens have an obligation to obey law by virtue of the fact that it is made in accordance with established procedures.
▪ There is no social obligation to obey the law.
▪ The basic limitation on the obligation to obey the state arose from the fundamental purpose of the state.
▪ It has, in fact, been argued that he has greater obligation to obey because of his participation.
▪ But an obligation to obey the law as it is understood in political writings today is a mere primafacie obligation.
▪ Is there a primafacie obligation to obey the law which transcends the limits of the state's authority?
▪ It may entail an obligation to obey certain of the more politically sensitive laws.
▪ I will postpone consideration of the obligation to obey the law until the last section of this chapter.
order
▪ Sometimes your questions were stray snipes over no-man's-land, bringing sharp hands and the order you had to obey.
▪ Review the multiplicity of language-games in the following examples, and in others: Giving orders, and obeying them.
▪ And, since he seems to attach importance to the language-game of giving orders and obeying them, let us begin there.
parent
▪ But Gary liked an orderly life and believed that chil-dren should obey their parents.
▪ Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well pleasing to the Lord...
people
▪ In this modern world we must both see that people obey the law and also be compassionate.
▪ For the most part, they are honorable people who obey the law and behave reasonably well.
rule
▪ It seemed that she might sit anywhere she chose, that there were no rules to obey.
■ VERB
refuse
▪ What turning-point of history will I decline, refuse, obey?
▪ Upon regaining consciousness, he'd panicked when his limbs, leaden and numb, had refused to obey him.
▪ She made a little moan, her head refusing to obey her and tilting back in pleasure at the touch of his hands.
▪ When the order was repeated, he refused to obey and later resigned.
▪ Aggrieved, she refused to obey instructions to sit and watch the dancers and took a side door into the cloisters.
▪ The deputy commander reportedly has twice refused to obey the commander's direct orders on troop deployment.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ All citizens must obey the law and be loyal to the Constitution.
▪ Drivers obey speed laws only when they think the police are near.
▪ I expect my students to obey me.
▪ I knew that if I didn't obey, I would be shot.
▪ Look how well their dog obeys.
▪ She was one of those people who obeyed the rules and was never irresponsible.
▪ Soldiers must always obey their commanding officer.
▪ War criminals tried to justify their actions by saying that they were only obeying orders.
▪ You can teach most dogs to obey simple commands.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But an obligation to obey the law as it is understood in political writings today is a mere primafacie obligation.
▪ Girls of her day were taught to obey their in-laws and husbands.
▪ He fought to make his fingers remain closed on the dagger, but they would not obey him.
▪ None of them actually obey the formal theory which suggests that altruism towards kin in human societies is directly in proportion to shared genes.
▪ The basic limitation on the obligation to obey the state arose from the fundamental purpose of the state.
▪ The mere recognition of a duty to obey achieves for the government what an overwhelming application of violence would not satisfactorily achieve.
▪ You've got to obey instructions - to the letter.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Obey

Obey \O*bey"\, v. i. To give obedience.

Will he obey when one commands?
--Tennyson.

Note: By some old writers obey was used, as in the French idiom, with the preposition to.

His servants ye are, to whom ye obey.
--Rom. vi. 16.

He commanded the trumpets to sound: to which the two brave knights obeying, they performed their courses.
--Sir. P. Sidney.

Obey

Obey \O*bey"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Obeyed; p. pr. & vb. n. Obeying.] [OE. obeyen, F. ob['e]ir, fr. L. obedire, oboedire; ob (see Ob-) + audire to hear. See Audible, and cf. Obeisance.]

  1. To give ear to; to execute the commands of; to yield submission to; to comply with the orders of.

    Children, obey your parents in the Lord.
    --Eph. vi. 1.

    Was she the God, that her thou didst obey?
    --Milton.

  2. To submit to the authority of; to be ruled by.

    My will obeyed his will.
    --Chaucer.

    Afric and India shall his power obey.
    --Dryden.

  3. To yield to the impulse, power, or operation of; as, a ship obeys her helm.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
obey

late 13c., from Old French obeir "obey, be obedient, do one's duty" (12c.), from Latin obedire, oboedire "obey, be subject, serve; pay attention to, give ear," literally "listen to," from ob "to" (see ob-) + audire "listen, hear" (see audience). Same sense development is in cognate Old English hiersumnian. Related: Obeyed; obeying.

Wiktionary
obey

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of. 2 (context intransitive English) To do as one is told. 3 (context obsolete intransitive English) To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).

WordNet
obey

v. be obedient to [ant: disobey]

Wikipedia
Obey

Obey may refer to:

  • Obedience (human behavior), the act of following instructions or recognizing someone's authority
  • Obey (surname)
  • Obey (Brainbombs album), a 1995 album by the Swedish band Brainbombs
  • Obey (Axis of Advance album), a 2004 album by the Canadian band Axis of Advance
  • Andre the Giant Has a Posse, which spawned the OBEY Giant movement
  • OBEY (clothing), a fashion line by Shepard Fairey
  • Obey (Benedictum album), 2013
  • Obey (The Jacka & Blanco album), 2012
Obey (Axis of Advance album)

Obey is an album released by the Canadian death metal band Axis of Advance in September 2004.

Obey (Brainbombs album)

Obey is the third album by Brainbombs. It was initially released in 1996 through the Swedish record label Releasing Eskimo, then released on vinyl format in the US in 1997. Many reissues released through Armageddon records have surfaced since, on both CD and vinyl formats. The album's cover shows a photograph of Ed Gein.

Obey (surname)

Obey is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

  • André Obey (1892–1975), French playwright and writer
  • Dave Obey (born 1938), American politician
  • Ebenezer Obey (born 1942), Nigerian musician
  • Pattie Obey, American choreographer
Obey (The Jacka & Blanco album)

Obey is a collaboration album between American rappers Blanco and The Jacka, released on October 16, 2012. It includes guest appearances from Freeway, Mistah F.A.B., Ampichino & Messy Marv, among others. The cover art for Obey is a tribute to the painting Andre the Giant Has a Posse. Music videos have been filmed for "Submit" featuring Freeway and "This Is Your God" featuring Ampichino & Messy Marv.

OBEY (clothing)

OBEY Clothing is a popular streetwear producing company founded in 2001 by street artist and illustrator Shepard Fairey as an extension to his work in activism.

The brand is well known for incorporating politically and socially provocative propaganda into the designs of their clothing and its founder describes this as manufacturing dissent.

Usage examples of "obey".

These Sea Folk were not like the aborigines of Ruwenda, accustomed to obey the laws of the White Lady and freely accepting Kadiya as their leader.

To do Buldeo justice, if he had been ten years younger he would have taken his chance with Akela had he met the wolf in the woods, but a wolf who obeyed the orders of this boy who had private wars with man-eating tigers was not a common animal.

The whole of Africa right to Ethiopia and Nigritia obeys the book of the Alcoran, after having staggered under the book of the Gospel.

The garment was filthy and soaked with blood at the neck, but Alec obeyed quickly, pulling it on with a shudder of revulsion.

Perhaps it felt that Meir Amit was a general more likely to obey orders than the choleric Harel, who had become a legend in his own lifetime among the Israeli people and relished it.

I spent several hours with her, but I was obliged to obey her commands, and could only shew myself amorous in words.

She is acting by me like an angel, and if she were to command me to turn anchoret, I know I ought to obey her.

She meant to lift her head, look for Anele, but the muscles in her neck and shoulders refused to obey her.

He stood with tiller in hand, keen eyes asquint against the sky, watching the sail and calling sharp commands which the others instantly obeyed.

The apologies which were repeatedly addressed to the successors of Trajan are filled with the most pathetic complaints, that the Christians, who obeyed the dictates, and solicited the liberty, of conscience, were alone, among all the subjects of the Roman empire, excluded from the common benefits of their auspicious government.

The monarch awoke, interpreted the auspicious omen, and obeyed, without hesitation, the will of Heaven.

So Gingrich was an authoritarian who wanted to be obeyed because he supported a policy also supported by Teddy Kennedy, Michael Dukakis, and Stephen Breyer.

The girl quickly obeyed and departed, stepping past Azar as she entered the room.

She bade him bring her a twig of the tree, and conquer the owner of the castle, who would challenge him as soon as he touched it, and promised that if he obeyed her exactly she would be his faithful wife.

The very first order laid upon me was never to go out unknown to the bailo, and without being escorted by a janissary, and this order I obeyed to the letter.