follows or complies with a command, rule, or instruction given by someone in authority.
From Old French 'obëir,' from Latin 'obaudire,' meaning 'to listen to' or 'to hear.' The 'ob-' prefix means 'toward' and 'audire' means 'to hear.'
The word 'obey' originally meant literally 'to listen to'—which makes sense because hearing someone's command is the first step to following it! In physics, objects 'obey' laws like gravity in the same way people obey rules.
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