obstriction

English

Etymology

From Latin obstringere, obstrictum (“to bind to or about”).

Noun

obstriction (countable and uncountable, plural obstrictions)

1. The state of being constrained, bound, or obliged.
2. That which constrains or obliges; obligation; bond.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 25, lines 311–314:

     Who made our Laws to bind us, not himſelf, / And hath full right to exempt / Who ſo it pleaſes him by choice / From National obſtriction, without taint / of ſin, or legal debt;

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “obstriction”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)