Crossword clues for oblige
oblige
- Over 50 in substantial English force
- Perform a favour for
- Bind, constrain
- Do something as a favour
- Do a fvour for
- Do a favour and repair big ’ole
- Do (someone) a favour
- Do as asked
- Be accommodating
- Do what's asked
- Do a favor
- Place under necessity
- Do as requested
- Go and be involved with bells’ noise — status demands it
- Duty of the superior toff, being above inferior English press
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Oblige \O*blige"\ ([-o]*bl[imac]j"; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Obliged ([-o]*bl[imac]jd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Obliging ([-o]*bl[imac]"j[i^]ng).] [OF. obligier, F. obliger, L. obligare; ob (see Ob-) + ligare to bind. See Ligament, and cf. Obligate.]
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To attach, as by a bond. [Obs.]
He had obliged all the senators and magistrates firmly to himself.
--Bacon. -
To constrain by physical, moral, or legal force; to put under obligation to do or forbear something.
The obliging power of the law is neither founded in, nor to be measured by, the rewards and punishments annexed to it.
--South.Religion obliges men to the practice of those virtues which conduce to the preservation of our health.
--Tillotson. -
To bind by some favor rendered; to place under a debt; hence, to do a favor to; to please; to gratify; to accommodate.
Thus man, by his own strength, to heaven would soar, And would not be obliged to God for more.
--Dryden.The gates before it are brass, and the whole much obliged to Pope Urban VIII.
--Evelyn.I shall be more obliged to you than I can express.
--Mrs. E. Montagu.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1300, "to bind by oath," from Old French obligier "engage one's faith, commit (oneself), pledge" (13c.), from Latin obligare "to bind, bind up, bandage," figuratively "put under obligation," from ob "to" (see ob-) + ligare "to bind," from PIE root *leig- "to bind" (see ligament). Main modern meaning "to make (someone) indebted by conferring a benefit or kindness" is from 1560s. Related: obliged; obliging.
Wiktionary
vb. (context transitive English) To constrain someone by force or by social, moral or legal means.
WordNet
v. force or compel somebody to do something; "We compel all students to fill out this form" [syn: compel, obligate]
bind by an obligation; cause to be indebted; "He's held by a contract"; "I'll hold you by your promise" [syn: bind, hold, obligate]
provide a service or favor for someone; "We had to oblige him" [syn: accommodate] [ant: disoblige]
Wikipedia
Usage examples of "oblige".
The conflict, grown beyond the scope of original plans, had become nothing less than a fratricidal war between the young king and the Count of Poitou for the succession to the Angevin empire, a ghastly struggle in which Henry was obliged to take a living share, abetting first one and then the other of his furious sons.
I should hereafter act in contravention of this abjuration, I here and now bind and oblige myself to suffer the due punishments for backsliders, however sever they may be.
Before he could abscond to the police station, Farrokh felt obliged to set a trap for Mr Garg.
In his declaration he made rise of the singular pretext, that the more enemies there were against Napoleon there would be the greater chance of speedily obliging him to accede to conditions which would at length restore the tranquillity of which Europe stood so much in need.
I did not dare to light my lamp before this creature, and as night drew on he decided on accepting some bread and Cyprus wine, and he was afterwards obliged to do as best he could with my mattress, which was now the common bed of all new-comers.
As I was obliged to keep my room, I let my friends know of my confinement, and I received visits from dancers and ballet-girls, who were the only decent people I was acquainted with in that wretched Stuttgart, where I had better never have set foot.
My illustrious friend still continuing to sound in my ears the imperious duty to which I was called, of making away with my sinful relations, and quoting many parallel actions out of the Scriptures, and the writings of the holy fathers, of the pleasure the Lord took in such as executed his vengeance on the wicked, I was obliged to acquiesce in his measures, though with certain limitations.
Breteuil was obliged to withdraw his opposition, and to acquiesce in this violence.
Notwithstanding these weary debates upon Irish affairs, the house of commons was obliged to participate in another as acrimonious as any of the former.
After much negotiation and dispute, conducted as to England and Turkey on the one side and Russia on the other with intense acrimony, Russia was obliged to conform to the demands of the allies.
In my distress I sent to Baron Martin, as I was in every case in his list for the following day, and begged him to oblige me by adjourning his court.
Stirpium adversaria nova, but when I wish to consult it I am obliged to wait until my husband or my chaplain or my cousin Richard has time to translate for me.
I was, therefore, obliged to give it up, as you may imagine, but I own I went away with rather a heavy heart, for the horse had looked at me affectionately, had rubbed his head against me and, when I mounted him, had pranced in the most delightful way imaginable, so that I was altogether fascinated with him.
Mr Adams on the other hand was all agasp and aswim, obliged to be sponged in a hammock under the weatherawnings, and Mrs Homer lost her looks entirely, going yellow and thin.
Germany, under certain capitulations, obliging the prince thus chosen to govern according to law, would become an hereditary succession, perpetuated in one family, which of course must be aggrandized to the prejudice of its co-estates, and the ruin of the Germanic liberties.