Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Obey
O-bey′
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Obeyed
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Obeying
.] 1.
To give ear to; to execute the commands of; to yield submission to; to comply with the orders of.
Children,
obey
your parents in the Lord. Eph. vi. 1.
Was she the God, that her thou didst
obey
? Milton.
2.
To submit to the authority of; to be ruled by.
My will
obeyed
his will. Chaucer.
Afric and India shall his power
obey
. Dryden.
3.
To yield to the impulse, power, or operation of;
as, a ship
. obeys
her helmO-bey′
,Verb.
I.
To give obedience.
Will he
obey
when one commands? Tennyson.
☞ By some old writers obey was used, as in the French idiom, with the preposition to.
His servants ye are,
to
whom ye obey
. Rom. vi. 16.
He commanded the trumpets to sound:
to
which the two brave knights obeying
, they performed their courses. Sir. P. Sidney.
Webster 1828 Edition
Obey
OBEY
,Verb.
T.
1.
To comply with the commands, orders or instructions of a superior, or with the requirements of law, moral, political or municipal; to do that which is commanded or required, or to forbear doing that which is prohibited.Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Eph. 6.
Servants, obey in all things your masters. Col. 3.
He who has learned to obey, will know how to command.
2.
To submit to the government of; to be ruled by.All Israel obeyed Solomon. 1Chron. 29. Dan. 7.
3.
To submit to the direction or control of. Seamen say, the ship will not obey the helm.Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Rom. 6. James 3.
4.
To yield to the impulse, power or operation of; as, to obey stimulus.Relentless time, destroying power, whom stone and brass obey.
Definition 2024
obey
obey
English
Verb
obey (third-person singular simple present obeys, present participle obeying, simple past and past participle obeyed)
- (transitive) To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of.
- (intransitive) To do as one is told.
- (obsolete, intransitive) To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iv:
- They were all taught by Triton, to obay / To the long raynes, at her commaundement [...].
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iv:
Antonyms
Related terms
Translations
to do as ordered by
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to do as one is told