n. & adv. See Aught. [ 1913 Webster ]
imp., p. p., or auxiliary. [ Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. āhte. √110. See Owe. ]
This due obedience which they ought to the king. Tyndale. [ 1913 Webster ]
The love and duty I long have ought you. Spelman. [ 1913 Webster ]
[ He ] said . . . you ought him a thousand pound. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
The knight the which that castle ought. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. Rom. xv. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]
To speak of this as it ought, would ask a volume. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? Luke xxiv. 26. [ 1913 Webster ]
☞ Ought is now chiefly employed as an auxiliary verb, expressing fitness, expediency, propriety, moral obligation, or the like, in the action or state indicated by the principal verb. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. The state of being as a thing ought to be; rightness. [ R. ] N. W. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]