Obsequious, 1) zealous, officious, devoted: “let me be o. in thy heart,” Sonn. 125, 9. “I see you are o. in your love, and I profess requital to a hair's breadth,” Wiv. IV, 2, 2. “and in o. fondness crowd to his presence,” Meas. II, 4, 28. “doting on his own o. bondage,” Oth. I, 1, 46.
2) Especially zealous with respect to what is due to the deceased; mourning (cf. subst. Obsequy): “how many a holy and o. tear hath dear religious love stolen from mine eye as interest of the dead,” Sonn. 31, 5.* “to shed o. tears upon this trunk,” Tit. V, 3, 152. “for some term to do o. sorrow,” Hml. I, 2, 92. Applied to a person: “and so o. will thy father be as Priam was for all his valiant sons,” H6C II, 5, 118.
Shakespeare Lexicon. Alexander Schmidt. Berlin. Georg Reimer. 1902.
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