GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Oblige , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Obliged ; p. pr. & vb. n. Obliging .] [OF. obligier, F. obliger, L. obligare; ob (see Ob-) + ligare to bind. See Ligament, and cf. Obligate.]
   To attach, as by a bond. [Obs.]
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   He had obliged all the senators and magistrates firmly to himself.
   Bacon.
   
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   To constrain by physical, moral, or legal force; to put under obligation to do or forbear something.
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   The obliging power of the law is neither founded in, nor to be measured by, the rewards and punishments annexed to it.
   South.
   
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   Religion obliges men to the practice of those virtues which conduce to the preservation of our health.
   Tillotson.
   
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   To bind by some favor rendered; to place under a debt; hence, to do a favor to; to please; to gratify; to accommodate.
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   Thus man, by his own strength, to heaven would soar,
   And would not be obliged to God for more.
   Dryden.
   
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   The gates before it are brass, and the whole much obliged to Pope Urban VIII.
   Evelyn.
   
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   I shall be more obliged to you than I can express.
   Mrs. E. Montagu.
   
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2.       
   obliging , a. Putting under obligation; disposed to oblige or do favors; hence, helpful; civil; kind.
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   Mons. Strozzi has many curiosities, and is very obliging to a stranger who desires the sight of them.
   Addison.
   
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   Syn. -- Civil; complaisant; courteous; kind, -- Obliging, Kind, Complaisant.  One is kind who desires to see others happy; one is complaisant who endeavors to make them so in social intercourse by attentions calculated to please; one who is obliging performs some actual service, or has the disposition to do so.
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   -- O*bli"ging*ly. adv. -- O*bli"ging*ness, n.
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