obey
v.v. to do what a law, a rule, or a person in power tells you to do. It means following orders exactly as they are given.
v. to comply with or follow the commands, restrictions, or instructions of an authority figure or legal system. Transitive when taking a direct object, though it can function intransitively.
You must obey the speed limit.
The soldiers were trained to obey their commanding officer without hesitation during high-pressure missions.
While the citizens generally obey the local ordinances, the new tax law has sparked a wave of civil disobedience that challenges the government's moral authority.
From Middle English obeyen, from Anglo-Norman obeir, obeier et al., Old French obeir, from Latin oboediō (also obēdiō (“to listen to, harken, usually in extended sense, obey, be subject to, serve”)), from ob- (“before, near”) + audiō (“to hear”). Compare audient. In Latin, ob + audire would have been expected to become Classical Latin *obūdiō (compare in + claudō becoming inclūdō), but it has been theorized that the usual law court associations of the word for obeying encouraged a false archaism from ū to oe, to oboediō (compare Old Latin oinos → Classical Latin ūnus).
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object; it does not require a preposition like 'to'.
He refused to obey to the rulesHe refused to obey the rulesObey is a transitive verb and takes a direct object without the preposition 'to'.