Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Something, such as a fetter, cord, or band, that binds, ties, or fastens things together.
  • noun Confinement in prison; captivity.
  • noun A uniting force or tie; a link.
  • noun A binding agreement; a covenant.
  • noun A duty, promise, or other obligation by which one is bound.
  • noun A substance or agent that causes two or more objects or parts to cohere.
  • noun The union or cohesion brought about by such a substance or agent.
  • noun A chemical bond.
  • noun A systematically overlapping or alternating arrangement of bricks or stones in a wall, designed to increase strength and stability.
  • noun A written obligation requiring the payment of a sum at a certain time.
  • noun A debt security obligating a government or corporation to pay a specified amount on a future date, especially a marketable security that makes semiannual interest payments.
  • noun A guarantee issued by a surety agency on behalf of a client, requiring the surety to pay a sum of money to a third party in the event the client fails to fulfill certain obligations; a surety bond.
  • noun A sum pledged as a guarantee.
  • noun A sum paid as a guarantee of a person's appearance at court for trial; bail.
  • noun The condition of being held under the guarantee of a customs bond.
  • noun An insurance contract that indemnifies an employer for loss resulting from a fraudulent or dishonest act by an employee; a fidelity bond.
  • noun Bond paper.
  • intransitive verb To join securely, as with glue or cement.
  • intransitive verb To join (two or more individuals) in a relationship, as by shared belief or experience.
  • intransitive verb To finance by issuing bonds.
  • intransitive verb To raise by issuing bonds.
  • intransitive verb To gain the release of (someone who has been arrested) by providing a bail bond.
  • intransitive verb To issue a surety bond or a fidelity bond for.
  • intransitive verb To lay (bricks or stones) in an overlapping or alternating pattern.
  • intransitive verb To cohere with a bond.
  • intransitive verb To form a close personal relationship.
  • intransitive verb To secure release from prison by providing a bail bond.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A peasant; a churl.
  • noun A vassal; a serf; one held in bondage to a superior.
  • Subject to the tenure called bondage.
  • In a state of servitude or slavery; not free.
  • Servile; slavish; pertaining to or befitting a slave: as, bond fear.
  • To put in bond or into a bonded warehouse, as goods liable for customs or excise duties, the duties remaining unpaid till the goods are taken out, but bonds being given for their payment: as, to bond 1,000 pounds of tobacco.
  • To grant a bond or bond and mortgage on: as, to bond property.
  • To convert into bonds: as, to bond a debt.
  • To place a bonded debt upon: as, to bond a railroad.
  • In building, to bind or hold together (bricks or stones in a wall) by a proper disposition of headers and stretchers, or by cement, mortar, etc. See bond, n., 12.
  • To hold together from being bonded, as bricks in a wall.
  • To unite the ends of (two adjacent rails,) either by copper wires or cables, or by welding, in order to secure a low-resistance return-circuit for the electric current.
  • noun Same as bond-timber.
  • noun In electricity, the rod, heavy copper wire, or weld which is used to connect the abutting rails of a railway-track to form an electric circuit.
  • noun In Scots law, the surrender of a fee to a superior.
  • noun Anything that binds, fastens, confines, or holds together, as a cord, chain, rope, band, or bandage; a ligament.
  • noun Specifically
  • noun plural Fetters; chains for restraint; hence, imprisonment; captivity.
  • noun A binding or uniting power or influence; cause of union; link of connection; a uniting tie: as, the bonds of affection.
  • noun Something that constrains the mind or will; obligation; duty.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, variant of band, from Old Norse; see bhendh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English bonde ("peasant, servant, bondman"), from Old English bōnda, būnda ("householder, freeman, plebeian, husband"), perhaps from Old Norse bóndi ("husbandman, householder"), or as a contraction of Old English būend ("dweller, inhabitant"). Both Old English & Old Norse, from Proto-Germanic *būwandz (“dweller”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeu- (“to swell, grow”). See also bower, boor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English bond, variant of band, from Old English beand, bænd, bend ("bond, chain, fetter, band, ribbon, ornament, chaplet, crown"), from Proto-Germanic *bandaz, *bandiz (“band, fetter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie, bind”). Cognate with Dutch band, German Band, Swedish band. Related to bind.

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Examples

  • "We're getting a reprieve from inflation," said Edward Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research Inc. in New York, who will speak at the conference and who devised the term "bond vigilantes" to describe the power financial markets can wield over governments.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • But our main bond is through the words we shared, tossing them up onto the blank canvas of the blog's front page and the little Haloscan windows.

    Why I Write 2008

  • It is common in the industry to refer to such a guarantee as a bond, and indeed, several companies in the completion-guarantee business use the word bond as part of their corporate names.

    The Movie Business Book, Third Edition Edited by Jason E. Squire 2004

  • It is common in the industry to refer to such a guarantee as a bond, and indeed, several companies in the completion-guarantee business use the word bond as part of their corporate names.

    The Movie Business Book, Third Edition Edited by Jason E. Squire 2004

  • It is common in the industry to refer to such a guarantee as a bond, and indeed, several companies in the completion-guarantee business use the word bond as part of their corporate names.

    The Movie Business Book, Third Edition Edited by Jason E. Squire 2004

  • It is common in the industry to refer to such a guarantee as a bond, and indeed, several companies in the completion-guarantee business use the word bond as part of their corporate names.

    The Movie Business Book, Third Edition Edited by Jason E. Squire 2004

  • Yardeni -- famous for coining the phrase "bond vigilantes" to describe investors who punish profligate governments -- predicts that global growth of about 5 percent this year will help spur a 15 percent rebound in the MSCI World Index of developed-nation equities from 1279.69 yesterday, and a increase in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index of stocks to 1,500 by year-end from 1273.72.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • The term bond vigilantes was coined by economist Edward Yardeni in 1984 to describe investors who protest monetary or fiscal policies they consider inflationary by selling bonds.

    BusinessWeek.com -- 2010

  • The term bond vigilantes was coined by economist Edward Yardeni in 1984 to describe investors who protest monetary or fiscal policies they consider inflationary by selling bonds.

    BusinessWeek.com -- 2010

  • The term bond vigilantes was coined by economist Edward Yardeni in 1984 to describe investors who protest monetary or fiscal policies they consider inflationary by selling bonds.

    BusinessWeek.com -- 2010

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  • "n. plural The whole of the timbers disposed in the walls of a house, as bond-timbers, wall-plates, lintels, and templets."

    -- from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

    May 14, 2014