All 5 Uses of
oblige
in
Gone with the Wind
- She was as charming a widow as she had been a girl, pleasant when she had her own way, obliging as long as it did not discommode her, vain of her looks and her popularity.†
Chpt 2.12 *obliging = helpful or willing to be helpful
- And as she reached the upper floor, she heard him obligingly slam the door for her.†
Chpt 3.19
- She looked, and was, frail but she was willing, obedient and obliging.†
Chpt 3.26obliging = helpful or willing to be helpful
- "If it won't pain you too much, India," she broke off sarcastically, "I'd be much obliged if you'd tell me why you've been staring at me all evening.†
Chpt 4.45
- And he knows we'll all be under obligation to him and his—mistress and that we'd almost rather be hanged than be obliged to them.†
Chpt 4.46 *
Definitions:
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(1)
(oblige as in: I am obliged by law.) require (obligate) to do something
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(2)
(oblige as in: I obliged her every request.) grant a favor to someone
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(3)
(obliged as in: I'm much obliged for your kindness) grateful or indebted
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(4)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, in classic literature you may see oblige as a synonym for ask as when Jules Verne wrote "I obliged the Professor to move his lamp over the walls of the gallery," in Journey to the Center of the Earth.