WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : O*blige"
Part of Speech : v.
Etymology : [OF. obligier, F.obliger, L. obligare; ob (see Ob-) + ligare to bind. See Ligament, and cf. Obligate.]
Definition : 1. To attach, as by a bond. [Obs.] He had obliged all the senators and magistrates firmly to himself. Bacon.

2. 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.

3. 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.

t. [imp. & p. p. Obliged; p. pr. & vb. n. Obliging.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913