OBEY

obey

(verb) be obedient to

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

obey (third-person singular simple present obeys, present participle obeying, simple past and past participle obeyed)

(transitive) To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of.

(intransitive) To do as one is told.

(obsolete, intransitive) To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).

Synonyms

• hearken

Antonyms

• disobey

• defy

• rebel

• resist

• violate (especially rules)

Anagrams

• e-boy, yebo

Source: Wiktionary

O*bey", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Obeyed; p. pr. & vb. n. Obeying.] Etym: [OE. obeyen, F. obéir, 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.

O*bey", v. i.

Definition: 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 Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition