Definition: obedience
obedience
n 1: the act of obeying; dutiful or submissive behavior with
respect to another person [syn: obeisance] [ant: disobedience]
2: the trait of being willing to obey [ant: disobedience]
3: behavior intended to please your parents; "their children
were never very strong on obedience"; "he went to law
school out of respect for his father's wishes" [syn: respect]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Obedience \O*be"di*ence\, n. [F. ob['e]dience, L. obedientia, oboedientia. See Obedient, and cf.Obeisance.] 1. The act of obeying, or the state of being obedient; compliance with that which is required by authority; subjection to rightful restraint or control. Government must compel the obedience of individuals. --Ames. 2. Words or actions denoting submission to authority; dutifulness. --Shak. 3. (Eccl.) (a) A following; a body of adherents; as, the Roman Catholic obedience, or the whole body of persons who submit to the authority of the pope. (b) A cell (or offshoot of a larger monastery) governed by a prior. (c) One of the three monastic vows. --Shipley. (d) The written precept of a superior in a religious order or congregation to a subject. Canonical obedience. See under Canonical. Passive obedience. See under Passive.
Priory \Pri"o*ry\, n.; pl. Priories. [Cf. LL. prioria. See Prior, n.] A religious house presided over by a prior or prioress; -- sometimes an offshoot of, an subordinate to, an abbey, and called also cell, and obedience. See Cell, 2. Note: Of such houses there were two sorts: one where the prior was chosen by the inmates, and governed as independently as an abbot in an abbey; the other where the priory was subordinate to an abbey, and the prior was placed or displaced at the will of the abbot. Alien priory, a small religious house dependent on a large monastery in some other country. Syn: See Cloister.
