v. Forms: 4–5 -elle, 4–7 -ell, 7– -el. Pa. t. and pple. compelled, pr. pple. compelling [a. OF. compeller and compellir (14th c. in Godef.) to compel, ad. L. compell-ĕre f. com- together + pell-ĕre to drive.]
1. trans. To urge irresistibly, to constrain, oblige, force: a. a person to do a thing (the usual const.).
c. 1380. Antecrist, in Todd, 3 Treat. Wyclif, 116. Þe first persecution … Whenne cristen men weren compellid bi exilyngis, betyngis, and deþis, to make sacrifices to ydols.
1382. Wyclif, Gal. ii. 3. Nether Tyte … was compellid for to be circumsidid.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Parson’s T., ¶ 518. If so be that the lawe compelle yow to swere.
1477. Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 1 a. Whiche grace … hath compelled me to sette a parte alle ingratitude.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. 48. He is compelled to do him seruice.
1611. Bible, Luke xiv. 23. Compell them to come in.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., III. XI. 335. As they could not persuade they tried to compel men to believe.
1874. Green, Short Hist., iii. 139. Hunger compelled him to surrender.
b. a person to (into) a course of action, etc.
1541. Barnes, Wks. (1573), 328/1. Thou hast with a Lordly violence compelled them to it [chastitie].
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxii. 122. To compell them to performance.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 619. If our proposals once again were heard We should compel them to a quick result.
1767. Babler, No. 63. I. 277. A most excellent lady, who was compelled into a marriage with my betrayer.
1854. J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), II. 26. Russia should unite her arms with ours, and compel that power to peace.
1869. Ruskin, Q. of Air, § 128. Compel the idle into occupation.
c. with simple object: To constrain, force.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 19. Though it [grace] may not compell the wyll of man.
1535. Coverdale, Job xxxii. 18. For I am full of wordes, & the sprete that is within me, compelleth me.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 175. The lawless Tyrant, who denies … thir … message to regard, Must be compelld by Signes and Judgements dire.
2. † a. To take or get by force, to extort. Obs.
a. 1500. in Gairdner, Three 15th c. Chron. (Camden), 76. [They] compelled, dispoyled, rubbed, and distroyed all manner of cattell, vetayll, and riches.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., III. vi. 116. We give expresse charge, that … there be nothing compellid from the Villages. Ibid. (1601), All’s Well, IV. iii. 356. And I were not a verie Coward, I’de compell it of you.
fig. 1829. Scott, Anne of G., i. Men, who … compelled from the soil a subsistence gained by severe labour.
b. To constrain (an action); to bring about by force, constraint, or moral necessity; to exact by rightful claim; to command.
1671. Flavel, Fount. Life, vi. 16. He compell’d the Devil’s assent.
1775. Johnson, Tax. no Tyr., 74. Our union with the English counties was either compelled by force, or settled by compact.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), I. i. 35. The government had no power to compel submission to injustice.
1880. McCarthy, Own Times, III. xxxvii. 141. He compelled a certain admiration from all men.
3. To force to come, go, or proceed; to drive forcibly, to force. Also (esp. in transl.) in the literal sense of the Latin: To drive or force together; to gather into a company by force. Cf. cloud-compeller. (Now rare and poetic.)
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 55. To thy tabernacle compelle not me.
c. 1450. Castle Howard Life St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 599. Þair frendes … Compeld þaim to þair erytage.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 5. She had this Knight from far compeld.
1606. G. W[oodcocke], trans. Hist. Ivstine, 28 b. They compelled the thirty Tyrants out to Eleusis.
1628. Hobbes, Thucyd. (1822), 129. Having compelld them within their walled towns.
1622–62. Heylin, Cosmogr., IV. (1682), 133. They … sent out 300 Horse and 200 Foot to compell them back unto their Ships.
a. 1700. Dryden, Pal. & Arc., III. 719.
| Attended by the Chiefs who fought the Field, | |
| (Now friendly mix’d, and in one Troop compell’d). |
1704. Swift, Batt. Bks. Compelling here and there the Stragglers to the Flock.
1720. Pope, Iliad, XIII. 454. The fatal tye Is stretch’d on both, and close compell’d they die. Ibid. (1725), Odyss., VII. 291. By heav’n’s high will compell’d from shore to shore.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xvii. Such a breeze Compell’d thy canvas.
1887. Athenæum, 1 Oct., 429. He can, Zeus-like, compel the clouds.
b. To force by pressure, compress. Obs. exc. fig.
1657. Tomlinson, Renou’s Disp., 77. Wine is compelled from the grapes into hogsheads.
1859. Trench, Epist. Ch. Asia (1861), 167. Before they can compel such scriptures as these into the limits of their system.
† 4. To overpower, constrain. Obs. rare–1.
1697. Dryden, Virg. (1806), II. 271. Easy sleep their weary limbs compell’d.
