obey
verbEtymology
From Middle English obeyen, from Anglo-Norman obeir, obeier et al., Old French obeir, from Latin oboediō (also obēdiō (“to listen to, harken, usually in extended sense, obey, be subject to, serve”)), from ob- (“before, near”) + audiō (“to hear”). Compare audient. In Latin, ob + audire would have been expected to become Classical Latin *obūdiō (compare in + claudō becoming inclūdō), but it has been theorized that the usual law court associations of the word for obeying encouraged a false archaism from ū to oe, to oboediō (compare Old Latin oinos → Classical Latin ūnus).
Definitions
To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of.
- obey the rules
- obey your boss
To do as one is told.
- Soldiers are trained to obey.
To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).
- They were all taught by Triton, to obay / To the long raynes, at her commaundement [...].
The neighborhood
- synonymhearken
- synonymmind
- synonymaccede
- synonymassent
- synonymacquiesce
- synonymobey
- synonymcomply
- synonymconform
- synonymsubmit
- synonymyield
- antonymdisobey
- antonymdefy
- antonymrebel
- antonymresist
- antonymviolate
- neighborobedience
- neighborobedient
- neighborobeisance
- neighboradhere
- neighborcarry out
- neighborfollow
- neighborfulfill
- neighborkeep
- neighbormeet
- neighborobserve
- neighborcommand
- neighborinstruction
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at obey. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at obey. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
9 hops · closes at obey
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA