compel, v.
(kəmˈpɛl)
Forms: 4–5 -elle, 4–7 -ell, 7– -el. pa. tense and pple. compelled, pres. 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 Pars. 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. |
d. absol.| 1903 R. Langbridge Flame & Flood vi, A voice that..asked like a child,..coerced like a man, compelled like the bidding of the Cosmos. 1904 L. T. Meade Love Triumphant iii. i, ‘I have powerful hands,’ was his answer, ‘hands that compel.’ |
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 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vi. 116 We give expresse charge, that..there be nothing compell'd from the Villages. 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 J. 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, etc. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 35 The government had no power to compel submission to injustice. 1880 M{supc}Carthy Own Times III xxxvii. 141 He compelled a certain admiration from all men. |
3. a. 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 O. 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] tr. 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 (J.), Attended by the chiefs who sought 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. 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. |