bind

[bahynd]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bind ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), bound, bind·ing.

to fasten or secure with a band or bond.

to encircle with a band or ligature: She bound her hair with a ribbon.

to swathe or bandage (often followed by up): to bind up one's wounds.

to fasten around; fix in place by girding: They bound his hands behind him.

to tie up (anything, as sheaves of grain).

to cause to cohere: Ice bound the soil.

to unite by any legal or moral tie: to be bound by a contract.

to hold to a particular state, place, employment, etc.: Business kept him bound to the city.

to place under obligation or compulsion (usually used passively): We are bound by good sense to obey the country's laws.

Law. to put under legal obligation, as to keep the peace or appear as a witness (often followed by over): This action binds them to keep the peace. He was bound over to the grand jury.

to make compulsory or obligatory: to bind the order with a deposit.

to fasten or secure within a cover, as a book: They will bind the new book in leather.

to cover the edge of, as for protection or ornament: to bind a carpet.

(of clothing) to chafe or restrict (the wearer): This shirt binds me under the arms.

Medicine/Medical. to hinder or restrain (the bowels) from their natural operations; constipate.

to indenture as an apprentice (often followed by out): In his youth his father bound him to a blacksmith.

verb (used without object), bound, bind·ing.

to become compact or solid; cohere.

to be obligatory: an obligation that binds.

to chafe or restrict, as poorly fitting garments: This jacket binds through the shoulders.

to stick fast, as a drill in a hole.

Falconry. (of a hawk) to grapple or grasp prey firmly in flight.

noun

the act or process of binding; the state or instance of being bound.

something that binds.

Music. a tie, slur, or brace.

Falconry. the act of binding prey in flight.

Informal. a difficult situation or predicament: This schedule has us in a bind.

Verb Phrases

bind off, Textiles. to loop (one stitch) over another in making an edge on knitted fabric.

Origin of bind

before 1000; Middle English binden (v.), Old English bindan; cognate with Old High German bintan, Old Norse binda, Gothic bindan, Sanskrit bandhati (he) binds

Related formsbind·a·ble, adjectivemis·bind, verb, mis·bound, mis·bind·ing.re·bind, verb, re·bound, re·bind·ing.

Can be confusedbind bound

Synonyms for bind

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bind ON THESAURUS.COM

1. gird, attach, tie. 2. confine, restrain. 9. engage, oblige, obligate.

Antonyms for bind

1. untie.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bind

pickle, predicament, dilemma, quandary, crunch, cover, unite, strap, restrict, attach, shackle, handcuff, connect, wrap, tether, dress, stick, engage, oblige, require

Examples from the Web for bind

Contemporary Examples of bind

By announcing this meeting with such feel-good publicity, they are placing their successors in quite a bind.
Plotting Nicea III Could Be Pope Francis's Masterstroke
Candida Moss
June 8, 2014
On Escobar's order, Popeye took Mendoza hostage in the warden's house while Escobar tried to figure his way out of the bind.
Pablo Escobar’s Private Prison Is Now Run by Monks for Senior Citizens
Jeff Campagna
June 7, 2014
This has put Ukrainian gay activists and their allies in a bind.
The Closeted Revolution: Kiev’s Gays Keep Quiet to Deny Putin a Propaganda Win
James Kirchick
April 1, 2014
It is precisely the ability of WGA to bind to proteins lining the gut that raises concern amongst medical researchers.
Wheat Threatens All Humans, New Research Shows
David Perlmutter, MD
December 10, 2013
Finally, Mandela understood the ties that bind the human spirit.
Full Text of President Obama's Eulogy for Nelson Mandela
The Daily Beast
December 10, 2013

Historical Examples of bind

Unfortunately, it does not bind me more than I am bound; but it binds you, Rosa, you.
The Black Tulip
Alexandre Dumas (Pere)
Well, then, be it so; but loving me does not bind you too much.
The Black Tulip
Alexandre Dumas (Pere)
Bind me over again to my good behaviour you may, by a single word.
Tales And Novels, Volume 9 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
The people who matter to us are the people who rest us—and calm us—and bind up our wounds.
The Coryston Family
Mrs. Humphry Ward
We cannot break the links which bind the individual to the race.
The Truth About Woman
C. Gasquoine Hartley

British Dictionary definitions for bind

bind

verb binds, binding or bound

to make or become fast or secure with or as if with a tie or band

(tr often foll by up) to encircle or enclose with a bandto bind the hair

(tr) to place (someone) under obligation; oblige

(tr) to impose legal obligations or duties upon (a person or party to an agreement)

(tr) to make (a bargain, agreement, etc) irrevocable; seal

(tr) to restrain or confine with or as if with ties, as of responsibility or loyalty

(tr) to place under certain constraints; govern

(tr often foll by up) to bandage or swatheto bind a wound

to cohere or stick or cause to cohere or stickegg binds fat and flour

to make or become compact, stiff, or hardfrost binds the earth

(tr)to enclose and fasten (the pages of a book) between covers
(intr)(of a book) to undergo this process

(tr) to provide (a garment, hem, etc) with a border or edging, as for decoration or to prevent fraying

(tr; sometimes foll by out or over) to employ as an apprentice; indenture

(intr) slang to complain

(tr) logic to bring (a variable) into the scope of an appropriate quantifierSee also bound 1 (def. 9)

noun

something that binds

the act of binding or state of being bound

informal a difficult or annoying situation

another word for bine

music another word for tie (def. 17)

mining clay between layers of coal

fencing a pushing movement with the blade made to force one's opponent's sword from one line into another

chess a position in which one player's pawns have a hold on the centre that makes it difficult for the opponent to advance there

Word Origin for bind

Old English bindan; related to Old Norse binda, Old High German bintan, Latin offendix band ², Sanskrit badhnāti he binds

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bind

Old English bindan "to tie up with bonds" (literally and figuratively), also "to make captive; to cover with dressings and bandages" (class III strong verb; past tense band, past participle bunden), from Proto-Germanic *bindan (cf. Old Saxon bindan, Old Norse and Old Frisian binda, Old High German binten "to bind," German binden, Gothic bindan), from PIE root *bhendh- "to bind" (see bend). Intransitive sense of "stick together" is from 1670s. Of books, from c.1400.

"anything that binds," in various senses, late Old English, from bind (v.). Meaning "tight or awkward situation" is from 1851.

bind in Science

bind

[bīnd]

To combine with, form a bond with, or be taken up by a chemical or chemical structure. An enzyme, for example, is structured in such a way as to be able to bind with its substrate.

Idioms and Phrases with bind

bind

In addition to the idioms beginning with bind

bind hand and foot
bind over

also see:

in a bind

Also see underbound.