Adjacent Words

Obey definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

OBEY, v.t. [L. obedio; Gr.]
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. Ephesians 6.
Servants, obey in all things your masters. Colossians 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 Song 1Chron. 29. Daniel 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. Romans 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.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: be obedient to [ant: disobey]

Merriam Webster's

verb (obeyed; obeying) Etymology: Middle English obeien, from Anglo-French obeir, from Latin oboedire, from ob- toward + -oedire (akin to audire to hear) — more at ob-, audible Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to follow the commands or guidance of 2. to conform to or comply with <obey an order> <falling objects obey the laws of physics> intransitive verb to behave obediently • obeyer noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 tr. a carry out the command of (you will obey me). b carry out (a command) (obey orders). 2 intr. do what one is told to do. 3 tr. be actuated by (a force or impulse). Derivatives: obeyer n. Etymology: ME f. OF obeir f. L obedire (as OB-, audire hear)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(obeys, obeying, obeyed) If you obey a person, a command, or an instruction, you do what you are told to do. Cissie obeyed her mother without question... Most people obey the law... It was still Baker's duty to obey. VERB: V n, V n, V

Moby Thesaurus

abide by, accede, accept, acquiesce, acquiesce in, act, adhere to, agree, agree to, assent, attend to orders, be agreeable, bend to, bow, bow to, carry out, comply, comply with, condone, conform, conform to, conform with, consent, consent to, countenance, defer, defer to, discharge, do, effect, execute, face the music, follow, follow the book, fulfill, give way to, go along with, grin and abide, harken to, heed, keep, knock under, knuckle down, knuckle under, knuckle under to, let go by, let pass, listen to, live with it, mark, meet, mind, not resist, obey the rules, observe, overlook, perform, regard, relent, resign, respect, rise above, satisfy, serve, shrug, shrug it off, stay in line, submit, submit to, succumb, succumb to, swallow it, swallow the pill, take, take it, take orders, toe the line, truckle to, yield, yield to