All 6 Uses of
compel
in
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
- I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half-and-half, two fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but whose biographies I was compelled to listen to.†
Chpt 1
- They laid me on a couch, I motioned for air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your chance.†
Chpt 1 *
- For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which compelled our respect.†
Chpt 3
- By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to eat it.†
Chpt 7
- I should be compelled to stop the night.†
Chpt 9
- As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a British peeress.†
Chpt 10
Definition:
-
(compel) to force someone to do something
or more rarely:
to convince someone to do something