obey
English
Etymology
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).[1]
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /oʊˈbeɪ/, /əˈbeɪ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əʊˈbeɪ/, /əˈbeɪ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪ
- Hyphenation: obey
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.
- obey the rules
- obey your boss
- (intransitive) To do as one is told.
- Soldiers are trained to obey.
- (obsolete, intransitive) To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:
- They were all taught by Triton, to obay / To the long raynes, at her commaundement [...].
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Synonyms
- hearken
Antonyms
- disobey
- defy
- rebel
- resist
- violate (especially rules)
Related terms
- obedience
- obedient
- obeisance
Translations
to do as ordered by
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to do as one is told
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to be obedient, compliant
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Further reading
- obey in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- obey in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
References
- page 220, The Latin Language by L.R.Palmer (→ISBN, →ISBN), and online at this link.
Anagrams
- e-boy, yebo