bind

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To tie or secure, as with a rope or cord.
2. v. To fasten or wrap by encircling, as with a belt or ribbon.
3. v. To bandage: bound up their wounds.
4. v. To hold or restrain with or as if with bonds.
5. v. To compel, obligate, or unite: bound by a deep sense of duty; bound by a common interest in sports.
6. v. Law To place under legal obligation by contract or oath.
7. v. To make certain or irrevocable: bind the deal with a down payment.
8. v. To apprentice or indenture: was bound out as a servant.
9. v. To cause to cohere or stick together in a mass: Bind the dry ingredients with milk and eggs.
10. v. To enclose and fasten (a book or other printed material) between covers.
11. v. To furnish with an edge or border for protection, reinforcement, or ornamentation.
12. v. To constipate.
13. v. Chemistry To combine with, form a chemical bond with, or be taken up by, as an enzyme with its substrate.
14. v. To tie up or fasten something.
15. v. To stick or become stuck: applied a lubricant to keep the moving parts from binding.
16. v. To be uncomfortably tight or restricting, as clothes.
17. v. To become compact or solid; cohere.
18. v. To be compelling or unifying: the ties that bind.
19. v. Chemistry To combine chemically or form a chemical bond.
20. n. The act of binding.
21. n. The state of being bound.
22. n. Something that binds.
23. n. A place where something binds: a bind halfway up the seam of the skirt.
24. n. Informal A difficult, restrictive, or unresolvable situation: found themselves in a bind when their car broke down.
25. n. Music A tie, slur, or brace.
26. bind off To cast off in knitting.
27. bind over Law To hold on bail or place under bond.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To make fast (to, on, or upon) with a band or bond of any kind.
2. To unite by any legal or moral tie; attach by considerations of love, duty, interest, obligation, etc.: as, bound in the bonds of matrimony; bound by gratitude, duty, debt, etc.
3. To put in bonds or fetters; deprive of liberty or of the use of the limbs by making fast physically.
4. To restrain; hold to a particular state, place, employment, etc.
5. To hinder or restrain (the bowels) from their natural operations; make costive; constipate.
6. To fasten around anything; fix in place by girding or tying: as, to bind a cord round the arm.
7. To encircle with a band or ligature; gird; confine or restrain by girding: as, “bind up those tresses,”
8. To swathe or bandage; cover and swathe with dressings: with up.
9. To form a border or edge on, for the purpose of strengthening or ornamenting; edge: as, to bind a wheel with a tire; to bind a garment or a carpet.
10. To tie or fasten (loose things) together with a band, cord, or tie; tie up into one bundle or mass: as, to bind sheaves of grain.
11. To fasten or secure within a cover, as a book or pamphlet. See bookbinding.
12. In fencing, to secure (the sword of an adversary). See binding, n., 3.
13. To cause to cohere; cement; knit; unite firmly: as, to bind the loose sand.
14. To place under obligation or compulsion: as, all are bound to obey the laws.
15. To put under legal obligation: often with over: as, to bind a man over to keep the peace.
16. Specifically To indenture as an apprentice: often with out.
17. To cohere; stick together.
18. To become indurated, hard, or stiff: as, clay binds by heat.
19. To be obligatory or of force.
20. To tie up anything; specifically, to tie up sheaves.
21. In falconry, to seize a bird in the air and cling to it: said of a hawk.
22. n. A tie or band; anything that binds. Specifically— A connecting timber in a ship.
23. n. In music, a tie, slur, or brace.
24. n. In coal-mining, indurated, argillaceous shale or clay, such as frequently forms the roof of a coal-seam: same as bend, 12, and bat, 10.
25. n. A unit of tale. A bind of eels is 250. A bind of skins is 32, or of some kinds 40.
26. n. Bounds; limit; stint: as, I am at my bind.
27. n. A climbing stem; a bine; specifically, a stalk of hops. See bine.

Wiktionary

1. n. That which binds or ties.
2. n. A troublesome situation; a problem; a predicament or quandary.
3. n. Any twining or climbing plant or stem, especially a hop vine; a bine.
4. n. music A ligature or tie for grouping notes.
5. v. intransitive To tie; to confine by any ligature.
6. v. intransitive To cohere or stick together in a mass.
7. v. intransitive To be restrained from motion, or from customary or natural action, as by friction.
8. v. intransitive To exert a binding or restraining influence.
9. v. transitive To tie or fasten tightly together, with a cord, band, ligature, chain, etc.
10. v. transitive To confine, restrain, or hold by physical force or influence of any kind.
11. v. transitive To couple.
12. v. figuratively To oblige, restrain, or hold, by authority, law, duty, promise, vow, affection, or other social tie.
13. v. law To put (a person) under definite legal obligations, especially, under the obligation of a bond or covenant.
14. v. law To place under legal obligation to serve.
15. v. transitive To protect or strengthen by applying a band or binding, as the edge of a carpet or garment.
16. v. transitive, archaic To make fast (a thing) about or upon something, as by tying; to encircle with something.
17. v. transitive, archaic To cover, as with a bandage.
18. v. transitive, archaic To prevent or restrain from customary or natural action.
19. v. transitive To put together in a cover, as of books.
20. v. transitive, computing To associate an identifier with a value; to associate a variable name, method name, etc. with the content of a storage location.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To tie, or confine with a cord, band, ligature, chain, etc.; to fetter; to make fast.
2. v. To confine, restrain, or hold by physical force or influence of any kind.
3. v. To cover, as with a bandage; to bandage or dress; -- sometimes with up.
4. v. To make fast ( a thing) about or upon something, as by tying; to encircle with something.
5. v. To prevent or restrain from customary or natural action.
6. v. To protect or strengthen by a band or binding, as the edge of a carpet or garment.
7. v. To sew or fasten together, and inclose in a cover.
8. v. Fig.: To oblige, restrain, or hold, by authority, law, duty, promise, vow, affection, or other moral tie.
9. v. To bring (any one) under definite legal obligations; esp. under the obligation of a bond or covenant.
10. v. To place under legal obligation to serve; to indenture; ; -- sometimes with out.
11. v. To tie; to confine by any ligature.
12. v. To contract; to grow hard or stiff; to cohere or stick together in a mass.
13. v. To be restrained from motion, or from customary or natural action, as by friction.
14. v. To exert a binding or restraining influence.
15. n. That which binds or ties.
16. n. Any twining or climbing plant or stem, esp. a hop vine; a bine.
17. n. (Metal.) Indurated clay, when much mixed with the oxide of iron.
18. n. (Mus.) A ligature or tie for grouping notes.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. something that hinders as if with bonds
2. v. provide with a binding
3. v. bind by an obligation; cause to be indebted
4. v. cause to be constipated
5. v. create social or emotional ties
6. v. make fast; tie or secure, with or as if with a rope
7. v. form a chemical bond with
8. v. secure with or as if with ropes
9. v. wrap around with something so as to cover or enclose
10. v. stick to firmly
11. v. fasten or secure with a rope, string, or cord