O-blĭge', v. t.
(o-blĭj'; formerly o-bleej', and still so pronounced by some old-fashioned speakers), v. t. [imp. & p. p. OBLIGED; p. pr. & vb. n. OBLIGING.] [Fr. obliger. See OBLIGATE.] 1. To constrain by physical, moral, or legal force; to bind by any restraint.
The obliging power of the law is neither founded in, nor to be measured by, the rewards and punishments annexed to it. South.
Sense 2. 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.