obey English · revision 39420

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=a1325, St. Wulfstan|origins=la audiō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /əʊˈbeɪ/, /əˈbeɪ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /oʊˈbeɪ/, /əˈbeɪ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|obeien]],^(MED)^(AHD 2024) [[bor|xno|obeir]] (in Old French also [[m|fro|obeir]], from the 12th century),^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) from [[la|oboediō|t=to listen to, pay attention, obey]] (also [[m|la|obēdiō]]),^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) formed from [[m|la|ob-|t=towards]] and [[m|la|audiō|t=to hear]].^(AHD 2024)^(Ayto 2005) By classical times the figurative sense "obey" had largely replaced "listen to" in Latin.^(Ayto 2005) Weekley compares [[de|gehorchen|t=to obey]], formed on [[m|de|horchen|t=to hearken]].^(Weekley 1921)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To do what one is commanded by a person, to submit to someone's rule: before 1325, in a Middle English life of St Wulfstan.^(OED 2026) Barnhart dates the verb probably before 1300, in ''Kyng Alisaunder'',^(Barnhart 1988) and Merriam-Webster to the 14th century.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The intransitive use, "to do as one is told", appears in Chaucer's ''Monk's Tale'' (c. 1375), and "to follow (a principle or law)" and "to carry out (a command)" in Gower's ''Confessio Amantis'' (before 1393).^(OED 2026) Chaucer used the verb 35 times and Gower 45.^(GCME) From the 15th century it was also said of things and involuntary agents responding to an impulse or force, as a ship to its helm.^(OED 2026) Senses that died out include "to do obeisance, bow" (before 1393 to 1516) and "to submit oneself" (c. 1390 to 1500).^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) defined it as "to pay submission to; to comply with, from reverence to authority".^(Johnson 1755) A short-lived noun, in the phrase ''at his obey'' "at his command", is recorded in 1584.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * a1325 – to do the bidding of (a person).^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1375 – intransitive, to do as one is told (Chaucer).^(OED 2026)

+ * a1393 – to comply with a command; to follow a law or principle (Gower).^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1425 – of things, to respond to an impulse (Lydgate).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1584 – noun, in ''at his obey''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1755 – in Johnson's Dictionary.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To do what a person or [[authority]] commands; to [[submit]] to.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To carry out an [[order]] or instruction.^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)

+ # To act in keeping with a principle or [[natural law]]; of things, to respond to a force or control: ''The kite obeyed every tug of the string.''^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ # ''(intransitive)'' To do as one is told; to be [[obedient]].^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[obeyer]]

+ * [[obeyable]]

+ * [[obeyingly]]

+ * [[unobeyed]]

+ * [[unobeying]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[obedience]]

+ * [[obedient]]

+ * [[obeisance]]

+ * [[audible]]

+ * [[audience]]

+ * [[disobey]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In the traditional Church of England marriage service the wife promised to "love, cherish and obey" her husband, and ''She who must be obeyed'' is the sorceress Ayesha in H. Rider Haggard's novel ''She'' (1887).^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}