Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OB'LI-GATE, v.t. [L. obligo; ob and ligo, to bind.]

To bind, as one's self, in a moral and legal sense; to impose on, as a duty which the law or good faith may enforce. A man may obligate himself to pay money, or erect a house, either by bond, by covenant or by a verbal promise. A man obligates himself only by a positive act of his own. We never say, a man obligates his heirs or executors. Until recently, the sense of this word has been restricted to positive and personal acts; and when moral duty or law binds a person to do something, the word oblige has been used. But this distinction is not now observed. The millions of mankind, as one vast fraternity, should feel obligated by a sense of duty and the impulse of affection, to realize the equal rights and to subserve the best interests of each other. Proudfit. That's your true plan, to obligate / The present minister of state. Churchill.