different between obey vs obea

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /o??be?/, /??be?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???be?/, /??be?/
• Rhymes: -e?
• Hyphenation: obey

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.
2. (intransitive) To do as one is told.
3. (obsolete, intransitive) To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iv:

     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)

Related terms

• obedience
• obedient
• obeisance

Translations

Further reading

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

References

Anagrams

• e-boy, yebo

English

Noun

obea

1. Alternative form of obeah

Anagrams

• boae, boæ

Taikat

Noun

obea

1. water

Further reading

• C. L. Voorhoeve, Languages of Irian Jaya Checklist (1975, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics), page 112