I amobliged to report to the police station every week.
1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, inMemoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London:[…][Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton andRalph Griffiths][…],→OCLC:
Tho' he was some time awake before me, yet did he not offer to disturb a repose he had given me so much occasion for; but on my first stirring, which was not till past ten o'clock, I wasoblig'd to endure one more trial of his manhood.
1719, John Harris,Astronomical dialogues between a gentleman and a lady,page151:
In the mean time I have another trouble to give you, if you willoblige me in it; and that is to get me a sight of the famous Orrery, which I have heard you and others so often speak of; and which I think was made by Mr. Rowley, the famous Mathematical Instrument-Maker.
Aside from in American English and Scottish, "obliged" had largely replaced "obligate" by the 20th century, the latter being more common in the 17th through 19th centuries.[3][4]
^Hurd, Seth P. (1847), “Oblige”, in “False Pronunciation”, inA Grammatical Corrector; or, A Vocabulary of the Common Errors of Speech[1],Philadelphia: E. H. Butler & Co,→OCLC,page86.
