OBEY


Meaning of OBEY in English

verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

follow/obey your instinct(s) (= do what your instinct tells you to do )

You should obey your instincts when dealing with strangers.

obey a command

Your dog will soon learn to obey your commands.

obey an impulse formal ( also yield to an impulse literary ) (= do something because you have a sudden very strong desire to do it )

Yielding to an impulse, she called him on her mobile phone.

obey an order

He refused to obey this order.

obey the law

Citizens have a duty to obey the law.

obey/follow a rule

She wasn’t going to obey their silly rules.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ NOUN

command

But where servility and not obedience is called for, then the command to obey clearly does not apply.

husband

But would she obey her husband ?

That meant obeying my husband and that his decisions were final.

Within marriage a wife was generally expected to obey her husband .

But it was a wife's duty to obey her husband in all that was not sin.

Girls of her day were taught to obey their in-laws and husbands .

You get married and the Bible says you are to obey your husband .

instruction

You've got to obey instructions - to the letter.

People are supposed to observe the sign-posts and obey the instructions .

Aggrieved, she refused to obey instructions to sit and watch the dancers and took a side door into the cloisters.

First, some accept its authority and obey its instructions because they are binding on them.

You are obliged to obey a reasonable instruction given by an authorised superior.

law

The first great law is to obey ...

obligation

Citizens have an obligation to obey law by virtue of the fact that it is made in accordance with established procedures.

There is no social obligation to obey the law.

The basic limitation on the obligation to obey the state arose from the fundamental purpose of the state.

It has, in fact, been argued that he has greater obligation to obey because of his participation.

But an obligation to obey the law as it is understood in political writings today is a mere primafacie obligation.

Is there a primafacie obligation to obey the law which transcends the limits of the state's authority?

It may entail an obligation to obey certain of the more politically sensitive laws.

I will postpone consideration of the obligation to obey the law until the last section of this chapter.

order

Sometimes your questions were stray snipes over no-man's-land, bringing sharp hands and the order you had to obey .

Review the multiplicity of language-games in the following examples, and in others: Giving orders , and obeying them.

And, since he seems to attach importance to the language-game of giving orders and obeying them, let us begin there.

parent

But Gary liked an orderly life and believed that chil-dren should obey their parents .

Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well pleasing to the Lord...

people

In this modern world we must both see that people obey the law and also be compassionate.

For the most part, they are honorable people who obey the law and behave reasonably well.

rule

It seemed that she might sit anywhere she chose, that there were no rules to obey .

■ VERB

refuse

What turning-point of history will I decline, refuse , obey ?

Upon regaining consciousness, he'd panicked when his limbs, leaden and numb, had refused to obey him.

She made a little moan, her head refusing to obey her and tilting back in pleasure at the touch of his hands.

When the order was repeated, he refused to obey and later resigned.

Aggrieved, she refused to obey instructions to sit and watch the dancers and took a side door into the cloisters.

The deputy commander reportedly has twice refused to obey the commander's direct orders on troop deployment.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

All citizens must obey the law and be loyal to the Constitution.

Drivers obey speed laws only when they think the police are near.

I expect my students to obey me.

I knew that if I didn't obey , I would be shot.

Look how well their dog obeys.

She was one of those people who obeyed the rules and was never irresponsible.

Soldiers must always obey their commanding officer.

War criminals tried to justify their actions by saying that they were only obeying orders.

You can teach most dogs to obey simple commands.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

But an obligation to obey the law as it is understood in political writings today is a mere primafacie obligation.

Girls of her day were taught to obey their in-laws and husbands.

He fought to make his fingers remain closed on the dagger, but they would not obey him.

None of them actually obey the formal theory which suggests that altruism towards kin in human societies is directly in proportion to shared genes.

The basic limitation on the obligation to obey the state arose from the fundamental purpose of the state.

The mere recognition of a duty to obey achieves for the government what an overwhelming application of violence would not satisfactorily achieve.

You've got to obey instructions - to the letter.

Longman DOCE5 Extras English vocabulary.      Дополнительный английский словарь Longman DOCE5.