All 19 Uses
oblige
in
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
(Edited)
- We overstaid our time, and were obliged to hurry from the jail.
Chpt 4obliged = required (to do something)
- When there, I was obliged to stand and listen to such language as he saw fit to address to me.
Chpt 6
- The fire of her temper kindled from small-sparks, and now the flame became so intense that the doctor was obliged to give up his intended arrangement.
Chpt 6
- I told him I could not blame him; he was a slave, and obliged to obey his master's will.
Chpt 11
- He was called to visit a patient out of town, and was obliged to be absent during Sunday.
Chpt 14
- I loved my father; but it mortified me to be obliged to bestow his name on my children.
Chpt 14
- But I must let you know there are two sides to my proposition; if you reject the bright side, you will be obliged to take the dark one.
Chpt 15
- I was obliged to steel myself to bear it.
Chpt 16
- As evening approached, the number of snakes increased so much that we were continually obliged to thrash them with sticks to keep them from crawling over us.
Chpt 20
- Often I was obliged to lie in bed all day to keep comfortable; but with all my precautions, my shoulders and feet were frostbitten.
Chpt 21
- The woman could not read, and was obliged to employ another to read the letter.
Chpt 27 *obliged = required
- Her dwelling was searched and watched, and that brought the patrols so near me that I was obliged to keep very close in my den.
Chpt 29obliged = required (to do something)
- Moreover, I had worked many years without wages, and during that time had been obliged to depend on my grandmother for many comforts in food and clothing.
Chpt 38
- Many a poor washerwoman, who, by hard labor, had made herself a comfortable home, was obliged to sacrifice her furniture, bid a hurried farewell to friends, and seek her fortune among strangers in Canada.
Chpt 40
- The fact that he was entirely dependent on Luke's care, and was obliged to be tended like an infant, instead of inspiring any gratitude or compassion towards his poor slave, seemed only to increase his irritability and cruelty.
Chpt 40
- When I spoke of the sacrifice she was making, in depriving herself of her dear baby, she replied, "It is better for you to have baby with you, Linda; for if they get on your track, they will be obliged to bring the child to me; and then, if there is a possibility of saving you, you shall be saved."
Chpt 40
- Having been a slave so large a portion of her life, she is unlearned; she is obliged to earn her living by her own labor, and she has worked untiringly to procure education for her children;
Chpt Appe
- ...several times she has been obliged to leave her employments, in order to fly from the man-hunters and woman-hunters of our land; but she pressed through all these obstacles and overcame them.
Chpt Appe
- At the end, he had large possessions; but I was robbed of my victory; I was obliged to resign my crown, to rid myself of a tyrant.
Chpt Appe
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) 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.