different between obey vs obley

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

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman obblé, oblei et al., Old French oblee, obleie et al., from Late Latin oblata (“light pastry; communion wafer”), noun use of the feminine past participle of Latin offerre (“to offer”).

Noun

obley (plural obleys)

1. (obsolete) A communion wafer. [14th-19th c.]
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVII:

     And than the bysshop made sembelaunte as thoughe he wolde have gone to the sakeryng of a Masse, and than he toke an obley which was made in lyknesse of brede [...].

Anagrams

• Boley, Boyle, boyle