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Webster 1913 Edition

Obligate

Ob′li-gate

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Obligated
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Obligating
.]
[L.
obligatus
, p. p. of
obligare
. See
Oblige
.]
1.
To bring or place under obligation, moral or legal; to hold by a constraining motive.
“Obligated by a sense of duty.”
Proudfit.
That’s your true plan – to
obligate

The present ministers of state.
Churchill.
2.
To bind or firmly hold to an act; to compel; to constrain; to bind to any act of duty or courtesy by a formal pledge.
That they may not incline or be
obligated
to any vile or lowly occupations.
Landor.

Webster 1828 Edition

Obligate

OB'LIGATE

,
Verb.
T.
[L. obligo; ob and ligo, to bind.]
To bind, as one's self, in a moral and legal sense; to impose on, as a duty which the law or good faith may enforce. A man may obligate himself to pay money, or erect a house, either by bond, by covenant or by a verbal promise. A man obligates himself only by a positive act of his own. We never say, a man obligates his heirs or executors. Until recently, the sense of this word has been restricted to positive and personal acts; and when moral duty or law binds a person to do something, the word oblige has been used. But this distinction is not now observed.
The millions of mankind, as one vast fraternity, should feel obligated by a sense of duty and the impulse of affection, to realize the equal rights and to subserve the best interests of each other.
That's your true plan, to obligate the present minister of state.

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