beholden \bih-HOHL-duhn\, adjective:
Obliged; bound in gratitude; indebted.
Kate was quite fond of him and knew he was grateful to her
for all the help and hospitality she and Oliver had given
him during his period of gloom and puzzlement after his
wife's defection, but she did not want him to feel beholden
to her.
-Mary Sheepshanks, Picking Up the Pieces
The likely new government, which draws only a negligible
level of support from rural areas, will be much less
beholden to the farming interests than any government in
the past two decades.
-"Reforming The EU Budget," Irish Times, October 8,
1998
Peter did not intend to be beholden to any of his relatives
unless they proved their worth.
-Lindsey Hughes, Russia in the Age of Peter the Great
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Beholden is derived from Old English behealden, "to hold
firmly," from be-, intensive prefix + healden, "to hold."
I felt beholden to buy Brand's chicken essence for my boss when he secretly gave me a month's bonus after I completed my one-year contract. Maybe I shall also stealthily put it on his desk before he arrives for work on Mon.
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