Careful Words

obey (n.)

obey (v.)

Gloriously drunk, obey the important call.

William Cowper (1731-1800): The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening, Line 510.

  To love, cherish, and to obey.

Book Of Common Prayer: Solemnization of Matrimony.

My way of life

Is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf;

And that which should accompany old age,

As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,

I must not look to have; but in their stead

Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,

Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act v. Sc. 3.

Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,

Dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Rape of the Lock. Canto iii. Line 7.