obey

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To do what a person, rule, or law tells you to do.

   You must obey the traffic laws.

2. 2
   verb

   To do as you are told without arguing.

   Soldiers are trained to obey without question.

Common collocations

• obey the law Verb + noun

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).

Topics