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.