Learn English – Meaning of “… for I bought him cheap of a man that was ‘bliged to sell out?”

meaning

I'm reading Uncle Tom's Cabin now. It contains:

He fetched me a good sum, too, for I bought him cheap of a man that was 'bliged to sell out; so I realized six hundred on him.

I can't understand the parts

  1. "I bought him cheap of a man"
  2. "that was obliged to sell out"

Does it mean to say that I bought him cheaply? Then is there any grammar like [adjective(cheap)+ of + person(a man)]?

And for the second part "that was obliged to sell out" — does this mean he will be sold?

Best Answer

I've used curly brackets below to group together those elements which ought to be interpreted as individual units, with explanations where they might be helpful:

"He fetched me a good sum, too, for {I bought him cheap} {of [= from] a man} {that was 'bliged to sell out [= who was forced to sell everything (presumably because he needed the money)]}; {so I realized} [= so I made a profit of] six hundred on him."

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