obey

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of.

   obey the rules

2. 2
   verb

   To do as one is told.

   Soldiers are trained to obey.

3. 3
   verb

   To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).

   They were all taught by Triton, to obay / To the long raynes, at her commaundement [...].

4. 4
   verb

   be obedient to

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).