Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Compel

Compel , transitive verb

[Latin compellere, compulsum, to drive together, to compel, urge; com- + pellere to drive: compare Old French compellir. See Pulse.]

1.
To drive or urge with force, or irresistibly; to force; to constrain; to oblige; to necessitate, either by physical or moral force.
Wolsey... compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once. — Hallam
And they compel one Simon... to bear his cross. — Mark xv. 21
2.
To take by force or violence; to seize; to exact; to extort. [Rare]
Commissions, which compel from each The sixth part of his substance. — Shakespeare
3.
To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.
Easy sleep their weary limbs compelled. — Dryden
I compel all creatures to my will. — Tennyson
4.
To gather or unite in a crowd or company. [A Latinism]
In one troop compelled. — Dryden
5.
To call forth; to summon. [Obsolete] — Chapman
She had this knight from far compelled. — Spenser

Compel , intransitive verb

To make one yield or submit.
If she can not entreat, I can compel. — Shakespeare