Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Headed or intending to head in a specified direction.
- adjective Confined by bonds; tied.
- adjective Being under legal or moral obligation.
- adjective Equipped with a cover or binding.
- adjective Predetermined; certain.
- adjective Determined; resolved.
- adjective Linguistics Being a form, especially a morpheme, that cannot stand as an independent word, such as a prefix or suffix.
- adjective Constipated.
- intransitive verb To leap forward or upward; spring.
- intransitive verb To progress by forward leaps or springs.
- intransitive verb To bounce; rebound.
- noun A leap; a jump.
- noun A rebound; a bounce.
- noun A boundary; a limit.
- noun The territory on, within, or near limiting lines.
- intransitive verb To set a limit to; confine.
- intransitive verb To constitute the boundary or limit of.
- intransitive verb To identify the boundaries of; demarcate.
- intransitive verb To border on another place, state, or country.
- idiom (in/within) Within the boundary of a playing field or court and therefore in play or legal.
- idiom Sports (out of bounds) Outside the boundary of a playing field or court and therefore not in play or legal.
- idiom (out of bounds) In such a way as to violate or exceed acceptable rules or standards, as of decency:
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A leap onward or upward; a jump; a rebound.
- noun In ordnance, the path of a shot between two grazes: generally applied to the horizontal distance passed over by the shot between the points of impact.
- To leap; jump; spring; move by leaps.
- To rebound, as an elastic ball.
- To cause to leap.
- To cause to rebound: as, to
bound a ball. - To confine within fixed limits; restrain by limitation.
- To serve as a limit to; constitute the extent of; restrain in amount, degree, etc.: as, to
bound our wishes by our means. - To form or constitute the boundary of; serve as a bound or limit to: as, the Pacific ocean bounds the United States on the west.
- To name the boundaries of: as, to
bound the State of New York. - To lead; go.
- Prepared; ready; hence, going or intending to go; destined: with to or for: as, I am bound for London; the ship is bound for the Mediterranean.
- noun That which limits or circumscribes; an external or limiting line; hence, that which keeps in or restrains; limit; confine: as, the love of money knows no bounds.
- noun plural The territory included within boundarylines; domain.
- noun A limited portion or piece of land, enjoyed by the owner of it in respect of tin only, and by virtue of an ancient prescription or liberty for encouragement to the tinners.
- Made fast by a band, tie, or bond; specifically, in fetters or chains; in the condition of a prisoner.
- Hence Made fast by other than physical bonds.
- Confined; restrained; restricted; held firmly.
- Hence Obliged by moral, legal, or compellable ties; under obligation or compulsion.
- Certain; sure.
- Determined; resolved: as, he is bound to do it.
- In entomology, attached by the posterior extremity to a perpendicular object, and supported in an upright position against it, by a silken thread passing across the thorax, as the chrysalides of certain Lepidoptera.
- Constipated in the bowels; costive.
- Pregnant: said of a woman.
- Provided with binding or a cover: said of books, etc.: as, bound volumes can be obtained in exchange for separate parts; bound in leather.
- Having all the affections centered in; entirely devoted to.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The external or limiting line, either real or imaginary, of any object or space; that which limits or restrains, or within which something is limited or restrained; limit; confine; extent; boundary.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bound.
Examples
-
If later courts were not bound to follow erroneous decisions, then they would only be ˜bound™ by earlier, correct judgments.
Precedent and Analogy in Legal Reasoning Lamond, Grant 2006
-
BoC says Canada to gain from U.S. growth spurt forest products sector, in particular, are bound to witness increases in U. S.-bound sales growth, the
-
BoC says Canada to gain from U.S. growth spurt forest products sector, in particular, are bound to witness increases in U. S.-bound sales growth, the
-
BoC says Canada to gain from U.S. growth spurt forest products sector, in particular, are bound to witness increases in U. S.-bound sales growth, the
-
BoC says Canada to gain from U.S. growth spurt forest products sector, in particular, are bound to witness increases in U. S.-bound sales growth, the
-
BoC says Canada to gain from U.S. growth spurt forest products sector, in particular, are bound to witness increases in U. S.-bound sales growth, the
-
BoC says Canada to gain from U.S. growth spurt forest products sector, in particular, are bound to witness increases in U. S.-bound sales growth, the
-
BoC says Canada to gain from U.S. growth spurt forest products sector, in particular, are bound to witness increases in U. S.-bound sales growth, the
-
BoC says Canada to gain from U.S. growth spurt forest products sector, in particular, are bound to witness increases in U. S.-bound sales growth, the
-
BoC says Canada to gain from U.S. growth spurt forest products sector, in particular, are bound to witness increases in U. S.-bound sales growth, the
oroboros commented on the word bound
Contronymic in the sense: constrained vs. unconstrained.
January 31, 2007