Oblige \O*blige"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Obliged; p. pr. & vb. n. Obliging.]

[OF. obligier, F. obliger, L. obligare; ob (see Ob-) + ligare to bind. See Ligament, and cf. Obligate.]

1. To attach, as by a bond. [Obs.]

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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)