v., bound (bound), bind·ing, binds. v.tr.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
bind off
- To cast off in knitting.
- To hold on bail or place under bond.
[Middle English binden, from Old English bindan.]
