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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Oblige \O*blige"\ ([-o]*bl[imac]j"; 277), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Obliged} ([-o]*bl[imac]jd"); p. pr. & vb. n. {Obliging} ([-o]*bl[imac]"j[i^]ng).] [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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
obliging \o*bli"ging\ ([-o]*bl[imac]"j[i^]ng), adjective Putting under obligation; disposed to oblige or do favors; hence, helpful; civil; kind.
Mons. Strozzi has many curiosities, and is very obliging to a stranger who desires the sight of them. --Addison.
Syn: Civil; complaisant; courteous; kind, -- {Obliging}, {Kind}, {Complaisant}.
Usage: One is kind who desires to see others happy; one is complaisant who endeavors to make them so in social intercourse by attentions calculated to please; one who is obliging performs some actual service, or has the disposition to do so. -- {O*bli"ging*ly}. adverb -- {O*bli"ging*ness}, noun
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
obliging
adjective
1: happy to comply [syn: {complying}, {yielding}]
2: showing a cheerful willingness to do favors for others; "to close one's eyes like a complaisant husband whose wife has taken a lover"; "the obliging waiter was in no hurry for us to leave" [syn: {complaisant}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
49 Moby Thesaurus words for "obliging": accommodating, accommodative, affable, agreeable, amenable, amiable, attentive, benevolent, benign, benignant, civil, complaisant, compliant, considerate, courteous, decent, deferential, delicate, easy, fair, friendly, generous, good-humored, good-natured, good-tempered, graceful, gracious, heedful, helpful, indulgent, kind, kindly, lenient, mild, mindful, mindful of others, overindulgent, overpermissive, permissive, polite, regardful, respectful, solicitous, supportive, tactful, thoughtful, tolerant, urbane, willing
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