Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb archaic Second-person singular present simple form of ought

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

ought + -est

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Examples

  • Would to God I could convince thee as easily where thou oughtest to seek, and art sure to find, consolation, as

    Chronicles of the Canongate 2008

  • So the Angel said: thy phantasy has imposed upon me & thou oughtest to be ashamed.

    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell 2008

  • So the Angel said: thy phantasy has imposed upon me & thou oughtest to be ashamed.

    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell 2008

  • Quicquid sibi imperavit animus obtinuit (as [3414] Seneca saith) nulli tam feri affectus, ut non disciplina perdomentur, whatsoever the will desires, she may command: no such cruel affections, but by discipline they may be tamed; voluntarily thou wilt not do this or that, which thou oughtest to do, or refrain, &c., but when thou art lashed like

    Anatomy of Melancholy 2007

  • Dictamen applies it to him, and dictates this or the like: Regulus, thou wouldst not another man should falsify his oath, or break promise with thee: conscience concludes, therefore, Regulus, thou dost well to perform thy promise, and oughtest to keep thine oath.

    Anatomy of Melancholy 2007

  • This, Reader, is the entertainment of those who let loose their own thoughts, and follow them in writing; which thou oughtest not to envy them, since they afford thee an opportunity of the like diversion, if thou wilt make use of thy own thoughts in reading.

    An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 2007

  • Say not thou, it is through the Lord that I fell away; for thou oughtest not to do the thing that he hateth.

    Clarissa Harlowe 2006

  • But yet there is enough in thy aspirations to strike my mind with a resemblance of thee and the lady to the figures on the wretched monument; for thou oughtest to remember, that, prepared as she may be to mount to her native skies, it is impossible for her to draw after her a heavy fellow who has so much to repent of as thou hast.

    Clarissa Harlowe 2006

  • Thou oughtest to have known that free-livers, like ministers of state, never part with a power put into their hands, without an equivalent of twice the value.

    Clarissa Harlowe 2006

  • To prostitute the characters of persons of honour of thy own family — and all to delude a poor creature, whom thou oughtest — But why talk I to thee?

    Clarissa Harlowe 2006

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