Category:Compel

Com*pel", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Compelled; p. pr. & vb. n Compelling.] Etym: [L. compellere, compilstum, to drive together, to compel, urge; com- + pellere to drive: cf. OF. compellir. See Pulse.]

1. To drive or urge with force, or irresistibly; to force; to constrain; to oblige; to necessitate, either by physical or moral force. Wolsey. . . compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once. Hallam. And they compel one Simon. . . to bear his cross. Mark xv. 21.

2. To take by force or violence; to seize; to exact; to extort. [R.] Commissions, which compel from each The sixth part of his substance. Shak.

3. To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate. Easy sleep their weary limbs compelled. Dryden. I compel all creatures to my will. Tennyson.

4. To gather or unite in a crowd or company. [A Latinism] "In one troop compelled." Dryden.

5. To call forth; to summon. [Obs.] Chapman. She had this knight from far compelled. Spenser.

Syn. -- To force; constrain; oblige; necessitate; coerce. See Coerce.

compel Com*pel", v. i.

Defn: To make one yield or submit. "If she can not entreat, I can not compel." Shak.