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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

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}.]
1. 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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2. 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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3. 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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obliging \o*bli"ging\ ([-o]*bl[imac]"j[i^]ng), 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}.

Usage: 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.
[1913 Webster] -- {O*bli"ging*ly}. adv. --
{O*bli"ging*ness}, n.
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