Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Oblige

Oblige (o*blīj"; 277) , transitive verb

[Old French obligier, French obliger, Latin obligare; ob (see Ob-) + ligare to bind. See Ligament, and compare Obligate.]

1.
To attach, as by a bond. [Obsolete]
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