obey

English

Etymology

From Middle English obeyen, from Anglo-Norman obeir, obeier et al., Old French obeir, from Latin oboediō (also obēdiō (“to listen to, harken, usually in extended sense, obey, be subject to, serve”)), from ob- (“before, near”) + audiō (“to hear”). Compare audient. In Latin, ob + audire would have been expected to become Classical Latin *obūdiō (compare in + claudō becoming inclūdō), but it has been theorized that the usual law court associations of the word for obeying encouraged a false archaism from ū to oe, to oboediō (compare Old Latin oinos → Classical Latin ūnus).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əʊˈbeɪ/, /əˈbeɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /oʊˈbeɪ/, /əˈbeɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: obey
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Verb

obey (third-person singular simple present obeys, present participle obeying, simple past and past participle obeyed)

1. (transitive) To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of.

   obey the rules

   obey your boss

2. (intransitive) To do as one is told.

   Soldiers are trained to obey.

3. (obsolete, intransitive) To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     They were all taught by Triton, to obay / To the long raynes, at her commaundement [...].

Synonyms

• hearken

Antonyms

• disobey
• defy
• rebel
• resist
• violate (especially rules)

Derived terms

Related terms

• obedience
• obedient
• obeisance

Translations

Further reading

• “obey”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “obey”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

References

Anagrams

• e-boy, yebo