Ob*se"qui*ous (?), a. [L.
obsequiosus, fr. obsequium compliance, fr.
obsequi, fr. obsequi: cf. F.
obséquieux, See Obsequent, and cf.
Obsequy.] 1. Promptly obedient, or
submissive, to the will of another; compliant; yielding to the
desires of another; devoted. [Obs.]
His servants weeping,
Obsequious to his orders, bear him hither.
Addison.
2. Servilely or meanly attentive; compliant
to excess; cringing; fawning; as, obsequious flatterer,
parasite.
There lies ever in "obsequious" at the present
the sense of an observance which is overdone, of an unmanly readiness
to fall in with the will of another.
Trench.
3. [See Obsequy.] Of or pertaining to
obsequies; funereal. [R.] "To do obsequious sorrow."
Shak.
Syn. -- Compliant; obedient; servile. See
Yielding.
