All 16 Uses of
compel
in
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
- The cook never sent a dinner to his table without fear and trembling; for if there happened to be a dish not to his liking, he would either order her to be whipped, or compel her to eat every mouthful of it in his presence.†
Chpt 2compel = force; or (more rarely) convince
- He sent for the cook, and compelled her to eat it.†
Chpt 2compelled = forced; or (more rarely) convinced
- Benjamin was taken sick, and compelled to remain in Baltimore three weeks.†
Chpt 4
- I was compelled to live under the same roof with him—where I saw a man forty years my senior daily violating the most sacred commandments of nature.†
Chpt 5
- She will be compelled to realize that she is no longer a child.†
Chpt 5
- My master met me at every turn, reminding me that I belonged to him, and swearing by heaven and earth that he would compel me to submit to him.†
Chpt 5compel = force; or (more rarely) convince
- She drank the cup of sin, and shame, and misery, whereof her persecuted race are compelled to drink.†
Chpt 5compelled = forced; or (more rarely) convinced
- It is the ignorance in which white men compel him to live; it is the torturing whip that lashes manhood out of him; it is the fierce bloodhounds of the South, and the scarcely less cruel human bloodhounds of the north, who enforce the Fugitive Slave Law.†
Chpt 8compel = force; or (more rarely) convince
- The life she was compelled to lead drove her mad.†
Chpt 9compelled = forced; or (more rarely) convinced
- When I had gone four or five miles, fatigue compelled me to stop.†
Chpt 10
- Every day for a fortnight, if I looked out, I saw horsemen with some poor panting negro tied to their saddles, and compelled by the lash to keep up with their speed, till they arrived at the jail yard.†
Chpt 12
- I was compelled to leave my place of concealment, and I groped my way back into the house.†
Chpt 18
- They are constantly compelled to resort to it.
Chpt 18 *compelled = forced
- But though my life in slavery was comparatively devoid of hardships, God pity the woman who is compelled to lead such a life!†
Chpt 21compelled = forced; or (more rarely) convinced
- So my aunt was compelled to lie at her door, until one midnight she was forced to leave, to give premature birth to a child.†
Chpt 28
- I should have been glad to have met Daniel Dodge himself; to have had him seen me and known me, that he might have mourned over the untoward circumstances which compelled him to sell me for three hundred dollars.†
Chpt 41
Definition:
to force someone to do something
or more rarely:
to convince someone to do something
or more rarely:
to convince someone to do something
Most typically, compel describes an external influence forcing someone to do something, but it can also describe being driven by an internal desire.