O*blige" (?), 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.] 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.