To oblige.
1668. My station obligates me to render service.—See the Athenæum, June 2, 1894, p. 710. (N.E.D.)
1764. Sir, I am obligated to leave.—Samuel Foote, ‘Mayor of Garratt.’ (N.E.D.)
1836. Many doubted the propriety of obligating the State to commence in five, and finish within twenty years, a navigable canal 200 miles long.—Mr. Tipton in the U.S. Senate, Feb. 26: Cong. Globe, p. 164, App.
1838. Sister Nancy was very much obligated by the fans and basket Miss Neely sent her, and was in a great maze at niggers doing anything so tasty.—Caroline Gilman, ‘Recollections of a Southern Matron,’ p. 52.
1849. In such case, would the Government be obligated to pay him for the body of such freeman?—Mr. Giddings of Ohio, House of Repr., Jan. 6: Cong. Globe, p. 176.
1852. The Whig [in Philadelphia] who obligated himself to saw a half cord of wood, if Pierce and King were elected, fulfilled his task this afternoon.—Daily Morning Herald, St. Louis, Dec. 24.
1857. I’d like to know how much of these kinds of stories we hired folks are obligated to believe?—S. H. Hammond, ‘Wild Northern Scenes,’ p. 50.
1857. Crop [the dog] seemed to think his master was in danger and that he was obligated, live or die, to go in.—Id., p. 224.
