bound
1 (bound)
[French bondir, to bounce, from Old French, to resound, perhaps from Vulgar Latin* bombitīre, from Latin bombitāre, to hum, from bombus, a humming sound, from Greek bombos.]
intransitive verb: bound·ed, bound·ing, bounds.
- To leap forward or upward; spring.
- To progress by forward leaps or springs.
- To bounce; rebound.
noun
- A leap; a jump.
- A rebound; a bounce.
bound
2 (bound)
[Middle English, from Old French bodne, bonde, Anglo-Norman bunde, both from Medieval Latin bodina, of Celtic origin.]
noun
- A boundary; a limit. Often used in the plural: Our joy knew no bounds. Your remarks exceed the bounds of reason.
- The territory on, within, or near limiting lines: the bounds of the kingdom.
verb: bound·ed, bound·ing, bounds.
transitive verb
- To set a limit to; confine: a high wall that bounded the prison yard; lives that were bounded by poverty.
- To constitute the boundary or limit of: a city park that was bounded by busy streets.
- To identify the boundaries of; demarcate.
intransitive verb
- To border on another place, state, or country.
bound
3 (bound)
verb
- Past tense and past participle of bind
adjective
- Confined by bonds; tied: bound and gagged hostages.
- Being under legal or moral obligation: bound by my promise.
- Equipped with a cover or binding: bound volumes.
- Predetermined; certain: We're bound to be late.
- Determined; resolved: She's bound to be mayor.
- Linguistics Being a form, especially a morpheme, that cannot stand as an independent word, such as a prefix or suffix.
- Constipated.
bound
4 (bound)
[Alteration of Middle English boun, ready, from Old Norse būinn past participle of būa, to get ready.]
adjective
- Headed or intending to head in a specified direction: commuters bound for home; a south-bound train.
bind
(bīnd)
[Middle English binden, from Old English bindan.]
verb: bound (bound), bind·ing, binds.
transitive verb
- To tie or secure, as with a rope or cord.
- To fasten or wrap by encircling, as with a belt or ribbon.
- To bandage: bound up their wounds.
- To hold or restrain with or as if with bonds.
- To compel, obligate, or unite: bound by a deep sense of duty; bound by a common interest in sports.
- Law To place under legal obligation by contract or oath.
- To make certain or irrevocable: bind the deal with a down payment.
- To apprentice or indenture: was bound out as a servant.
- To cause to cohere or stick together in a mass: Bind the dry ingredients with milk and eggs.
- To enclose and fasten (a book or other printed material) between covers.
- To furnish with an edge or border for protection, reinforcement, or ornamentation.
- To constipate.
- Chemistry To combine with, form a chemical bond with, or be taken up by, as an enzyme with its substrate.
intransitive verb
- To tie up or fasten something.
- To stick or become stuck: applied a lubricant to keep the moving parts from binding.
- To be uncomfortably tight or restricting, as clothes.
- To become compact or solid; cohere.
- To be compelling or unifying: the ties that bind.
- Chemistry To combine chemically or form a chemical bond.
noun
- The act of binding.
- The state of being bound.
- Something that binds.
- A place where something binds: a bind halfway up the seam of the skirt.
- Informal A difficult, restrictive, or unresolvable situation: found themselves in a bind when their car broke down.
- Music A tie, slur, or brace.
phrasal verbs
- bind off
- To cast off in knitting.
- bind over
- To hold on bail or place under bond.