All 50 Uses of
oblige
in
Middlemarch
- He's very hot on new sorts; to oblige you.
Chpt 1 (definition 1)oblige = grant a favor
- Oblige me!
Chpt 1 (definition 1)
- I set a bad example—married a poor clergyman, and made myself a pitiable object among the De Bracys—obliged to get my coals by stratagem, and pray to heaven for my salad oil.
Chpt 1 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- I have no doubt Mrs. Carter will oblige me.
Chpt 1 (definition 1)oblige = grant a favor
- When next any one makes love to you, Miss Rosamond, I will tell him how obliging you are.
Chpt 1 (definition 1)obliging = helpful or willing to be helpful
- Why should you expect me to oblige you by hearing you play the flute, any more than I should expect you to oblige me by not playing it?
Chpt 1 (definition 1)oblige = grant a favor
- Why should you expect me to oblige you by hearing you play the flute, any more than I should expect you to oblige me by not playing it?
Chpt 1 (definition 1)
- He is the only person who takes the least trouble to oblige me.
Chpt 1 (definition 1)
- I am not obliged to tell you.
Chpt 1 (definition 2) *obliged = required (to do something)
- "I shall be exceedingly obliged if you will look in on me here occasionally, Mr. Lydgate," the banker observed, after a brief pause.
Chpt 2 (definition 3) *obliged = grateful or indebted
- He took them, saying— "I am very much obliged to you, sir," and was going to roll them up without seeming to think of their value.
Chpt 2 (definition 3)
- I have made up my mind to take Middlemarch as it comes, and shall be much obliged if the town will take me in the same way.
Chpt 2 (definition 3)
- But whichever way Lydgate began to incline, there was something to make him wince; and being a proud man, he was a little exasperated at being obliged to wince.
Chpt 2 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- …and to Mr. Casaubon it was a new pain, he never having been on a wedding journey before, or found himself in that close union which was more of a subjection than he had been able to imagine, since this charming young bride not only obliged him to much consideration on her behalf (which he had sedulously given), but turned out to be capable of agitating him cruelly just where he most needed soothing.
Chpt 2 (definition 2)
- Poor Dorothea felt a pang at the thought that the labor of her husband's life might be void, which left her no energy to spare for the question whether this young relative who was so much obliged to him ought not to have repressed his observation.
Chpt 2 (definition 3)obliged = grateful or indebted
- Mr. Casaubon, bowing, doubted not that Mrs. Casaubon would oblige him, and Dorothea said, at once, "Where shall I put myself?"
Chpt 2 (definition 1)oblige = grant a favor
- Naumann took the hint and said— "Now, sir, if you can oblige me again; I will release the lady-wife."
Chpt 2 (definition 1)
- Oblige me by letting the subject drop, Naumann.
Chpt 2 (definition 1) *oblige = grant a favor to
- In the end I am usually obliged to think ill of myself for being so impatient.
Chpt 2 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- He was too filial to be disrespectful to his father, and he bore the thunder with the certainty that it was transient; but in the mean time it was disagreeable to see his mother cry, and also to be obliged to look sulky instead of having fun; for Fred was so good-tempered that if he looked glum under scolding, it was chiefly for propriety's sake.
Chpt 3 (definition 2)
- With a favor to ask we review our list of friends, do justice to their more amiable qualities, forgive their little offenses, and concerning each in turn, try to arrive at the conclusion that he will be eager to oblige us, our own eagerness to be obliged being as communicable as other warmth.
Chpt 3 (definition 1)oblige = grant a favor
- With a favor to ask we review our list of friends, do justice to their more amiable qualities, forgive their little offenses, and concerning each in turn, try to arrive at the conclusion that he will be eager to oblige us, our own eagerness to be obliged being as communicable as other warmth.
Chpt 3 (definition 1)obliged = granted a favor (to someone)
- "Will you let me ride on your horse to-day?" said Ben, rendering up the whip, with an air of not being obliged to do it.
Chpt 3 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- They were obliged to look at each other in speaking, and somehow the looking could not be carried through as the matter of course which it really was.
Chpt 3 (definition 2)
- He was coming to England, to try his fortune, as many other young men were obliged to do whose only capital was in their brains.
Chpt 3 (definition 2)
- Besides, if I was obliged to speak, I should say I was not fond of strangers coming into a town.
Chpt 3 (definition 2)
- "I am much obliged," said Mary, hastening away again, "but I have little time for reading."
Chpt 3 (definition 3)obliged = grateful or indebted
- Mr. Casaubon was out of the question, not merely because he declined duty of this sort, but because Featherstone had an especial dislike to him as the rector of his own parish, who had a lien on the land in the shape of tithe, also as the deliverer of morning sermons, which the old man, being in his pew and not at all sleepy, had been obliged to sit through with an inward snarl.
Chpt 4 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- I am quite obliged to Mrs. Cadwallader for coming and calling me out of the library.
Chpt 4 (definition 3)obliged = grateful or indebted
- "Quite right to feel obliged to me," said Mrs. Cadwallader.
Chpt 4 (definition 3)
- It was rather irritating to him, even with the wine of love in his veins, to be obliged to mingle so often with the family party at the Vincys', and to enter so much into Middlemarch gossip, protracted good cheer, whist-playing, and general futility.
Chpt 4 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- He was much obliged to Casaubon in the past, but really the act of marrying this wife was a set-off against the obligation.
Chpt 4 (definition 3)obliged = grateful or indebted
- Clouds gathered with treacherous quickness, the rain came down, and Will was obliged to take shelter in the house.
Chpt 4 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- No, not at all; but I shall be obliged, since you are up, if you will read me a few pages of Lowth.
Chpt 4 (definition 3)obliged = grateful or indebted
- Will, the moment before, had been low in the depths of boredom, and, obliged to help Mr. Brooke in arranging "documents" about hanging sheep-stealers, was exemplifying the power our minds have of riding several horses at once by inwardly arranging measures towards getting a lodging for himself in Middlemarch and cutting short his constant residence at the Grange; while there flitted through all these steadier images a tickling vision of a sheep-stealing epic written with Homeric…
Chpt 4 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- The Baronet added in very obliging words that he himself was particularly desirous of seeing the Freshitt and Tipton estates under the same management, and he hoped to be able to show that the double agency might be held on terms agreeable to Mr. Garth, whom he would be glad to see at the Hall at twelve o'clock on the following day.
Chpt 4 (definition 1)obliging = helpful or willing to be helpful
- Raffles, walking with the uneasy gait of a town loiterer obliged to do a bit of country journeying on foot, looked as incongruous amid this moist rural quiet and industry as if he had been a baboon escaped from a menagerie.
Chpt 4 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- "Lydgate," said Mr. Casaubon, with his invariably polite air, "I am exceedingly obliged to you for your punctuality."
Chpt 4 (definition 3)obliged = grateful or indebted
- And just as clearly in the miserable light she saw her own and her husband's solitude—how they walked apart so that she was obliged to survey him.
Chpt 4 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- I am very much obliged to you.
Chpt 5 (definition 3)obliged = grateful or indebted
- Good Middlemarch families were of course not going to change their doctor without reason shown; and everybody who had employed Mr. Peacock did not feel obliged to accept a new man merely in the character of his successor, objecting that he was "not likely to be equal to Peacock."
Chpt 5 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- "I can't oblige you there, Wrench," said Mr. Hawley, thrusting his hands into his trouser-pockets.
Chpt 5 (definition 1)oblige = grant a favor
- Let him smart a little, as other people are obliged to do.
Chpt 5 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- "You will oblige me, my dear," he said, seating himself, "if instead of other reading this evening, you will go through this aloud, pencil in hand, and at each point where I say 'mark,' will make a cross with your pencil."
Chpt 5 (definition 1)oblige = grant a favor
- "You would oblige me greatly by doing so, Dorothea," said Mr. Casaubon, with a shade more meekness than usual in his polite manner.
Chpt 5 (definition 1)
- "Sir, I am your humble servant, and greatly obliged," said Mr. Mawmsey, feeling that politics were clearing up a little.
Chpt 5 (definition 3)obliged = grateful or indebted
- "I am exceedingly obliged to you," said Ladislaw, proudly.
Chpt 5 (definition 3)
- I don't like divinity, and preaching, and feeling obliged to look serious.
Chpt 5 (definition 2)obliged = required (to do something)
- Of course, if I am obliged to be a clergyman, I shall try and do my duty, though I mayn't like it.
Chpt 5 (definition 2)
- "As I have little time to spare, Mr. Raffles," said the banker, who could hardly do more than sip his tea and break his toast without eating it, "I shall be obliged if you will mention at once the ground on which you wished to meet with me."
Chpt 5 (definition 3)obliged = grateful or indebted
Definitions:
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(1) (oblige as in: I obliged her every request.) grant a favor to someone
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(2) (oblige as in: I am obliged by law.) require (obligate) to do something
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(3) (obliged as in: I'm much obliged for your kindness) grateful or indebted