beholden

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The Word of the Day for January 30 is: 

beholden   \bih-HOHL-dun\   adjective
          : being under obligation for a favor or gift : indebted

Example sentence:
          Tom understood that Mrs. Milton disliked being beholden to anyone, so 
he usually let her give him a dollar or two when he mowed her lawn or shoveled 
her driveway.

Did you know?
          Have you ever found yourself under obligation to someone else for a 
gift or favor? It's a common experience, and, not surprisingly, many of the 
words describing this condition have been part of the English language for 
centuries. "Beholden" was first recorded in writing in the 14th century, in the 
poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." "Indebted," which entered English 
through Anglo-French, is even older, first appearing in the 13th century. 
English speakers in the 14th century would also have had another synonym of 
"beholden" to choose from, a now-obsolete sense of "bounden," which today means 
"made obligatory" or "binding." 





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