Obey \O*bey"\, v. i. To give obedience.

Will he obey when one commands? --Tennyson.

Note: 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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Obey \O*bey"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Obeyed; p. pr. & vb. n. Obeying.]

[OE. obeyen, F. ob['e]ir, fr. L. obedire, oboedire; ob (see Ob-) + audire to hear. See Audible, and cf. Obeisance.]

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 helm.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)