bind

Etymology

From Middle English binden, from Old English bindan, from Proto-West Germanic *bindan, from Proto-Germanic *bindaną (compare West Frisian bine, Dutch binden, Low German binnen, German binden, Danish binde), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéndʰ-e-ti, from *bʰendʰ- (“to tie”).

Compare Welsh ben (“cart”), Latin offendīx (“knot, band”), Lithuanian beñdras (“partner”), Albanian bind (“to convince, to awe, to spell”), Ancient Greek πεῖσμα (peîsma, “cable, rope”), Persian بستن (bastan, “to bind”), Sanskrit बन्धति (bándhati). Doublet of bandana.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baɪnd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪnd

Verb

bind (third-person singular simple present binds, present participle binding, simple past bound or (nonstandard) binded, past participle bound or (nonstandard) binded or (archaic, rare) bounden or (obsolete) ybound or (obsolete) ybounden)

1. (intransitive) To tie; to confine by any ligature.
   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     They that reap must sheaf and bind.

2. (intransitive) To cohere or stick together in a mass.

   We’ll throw it in just to make the cheese more binding.

   • 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC:

     unlocks their [clay’s] binding Quality.

3. (intransitive) To be restrained from motion, or from customary or natural action, as by friction.

   I wish I knew why the sewing machine binds up after I use it for a while.

4. (intransitive) To exert a binding or restraining influence.

   These are the ties that bind.

5. (transitive) To tie or fasten tightly together, with a cord, band, ligature, chain, etc.

   Synonyms: fetter, make fast, tie, fasten, restrain

   to bind grain in bundles  to bind a prisoner

6. (transitive) To confine, restrain, or hold by physical force or influence of any kind.

   Synonyms: curtail, restrain; see also Thesaurus:curb

   Gravity binds the planets to the sun.

   Frost binds the earth.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 28:11:

     He bindeth the flouds from ouerflowing, and the thing that is hid, bringeth he foorth to light.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 13:16:

     And ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, loe these eighteene yeeres, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?

7. (transitive) To couple.
8. (figuratively) To oblige, restrain, or hold, by authority, law, duty, promise, vow, affection, or other social tie.

   Synonyms: restrain, restrict, obligate

   to bind the conscience  to bind by kindness  bound by affection  commerce binds nations to each other

   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 11, column 2:

     I am much bounden to your Maieſty.

   • 1626, William Roper, S. W. Singer, The Mirrour of Vertue in Worldly Greatnes. Or The Life of Syr Thomas More Knight, sometime Lo. Chancellour of England, new revised and corrected edition, Paris [i.e. Saint-Omer]: [Printed at the English College Press], →OCLC; republished as The Life of Sir Thomas More, by His Son-in-law, William Roper, Esq. […], Chiswick, London: From the press of C[harles] Whittingham, for R. Triphook, […], 1822, →OCLC, page 36:

     In the concluding whereof Sir Thomas More so worthily handled himself, procuring in our league far more benefits unto this realm, than at that time, by the king or his council was thought possible to be compassed, that for his good service in that voyage, the king, when he after made him Lord Chancellor, caused the Duke of Norfolk openly to declare to the people, as you shall hear hereafter more at large, how much all England was bounden unto him.

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 25, line 310:

     Who made our Laws to bind us, not himſelf,

   • 1963, William A. Owens, chapter 2, in Look to the River, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum; republished as Look to the River (Texas Tradition Series; 8), Fort Worth, Tex.: Texas Christian University Press, 1988, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 20:

     He'll mind, I reckon, not getting any work out'n me, but I won't be bounden to him any longer. How can he keep me if I ain't bounden to him?

9. (law) To put (a person) under definite legal obligations, especially, under the obligation of a bond or covenant.
10. (law) To place under legal obligation to serve.

    Synonym: indenture

    to bind an apprentice  bound out to service

11. (transitive) To protect or strengthen by applying a band or binding, as the edge of a carpet or garment.
12. (transitive, archaic) To make fast (a thing) about or upon something, as by tying; to encircle with something.

    to bind a belt about one  to bind a compress upon a wound

13. (transitive) To cover, as with a bandage.

    Synonyms: bandage, dress

    to bind up a wound

14. (transitive, archaic) To prevent or restrain from customary or natural action, as by producing constipation.

    Certain drugs bind the bowels.

15. (transitive) To put together in a cover, as of books.

    The three novels were bound together.

16. (transitive, chemistry) To make two or more elements stick together.
17. (transitive, programming) To associate an identifier with a value; to associate a variable name, method name, etc. with the content of a storage location.
    • 2008, Bryan O'Sullivan, John Goerzen, Donald Bruce Stewart, Real World Haskell, page 33:

      We bind the variable n to the value 2, and xs to "abcd".

    • 2009, Robert Pickering, Beginning F#, page 123:

      You can bind an identifier to an object of a derived type, as you did earlier when you bound a string to an identifier of type obj […]

18. (transitive, programming) To process one or more object modules into an executable program.
19. (UK, dialect) To complain; to whine about something.
    • 1980, Iris Murdoch, Nuns And Soldiers:

      "But it's not much good piling up the pix if I can't sell them."
      "Oh do stop binding. Think of something. How will we eat, where will we sleep?"

20. (intransitive, LGBTQ) To wear a binder so as to flatten one's chest to give the appearance of a flat chest, usually done by trans men.

    I haven't binded since I got my top surgery.

    I hear binder tech has improved since I last bound.

Noun

bind (countable and uncountable, plural binds)

1. (countable) That which binds or ties.
2. (countable) A troublesome situation; a problem; a predicament or quandary.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:difficult situation

3. Any twining or climbing plant or stem, especially a hop vine; a bine.
4. (music, countable) A ligature or tie for grouping notes.
5. (chess, countable) A strong grip or stranglehold on a position, which is difficult for the opponent to break.

   the Maróczy Bind

6. The indurated clay of coal mines, or other overlying substances such as sandstone or shale.

References

• “bind”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “bind”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “bind”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• INBD, inbd., INDB, DINB