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- DictionaryBind/bīnd/
verb
- 1. tie or fasten (something) tightly: "the logs were bound together with ropes" Similar tietie upfasten (together)hold togethersecuremake fastattachropestraplashtrusstetherhitchchainfetterpinionshacklehobblemoorOpposite untierelease
- ▪ restrain (someone) by tying their hands and feet: "the raider then bound and gagged Mr. Glenn"
- ▪ wrap (something) tightly: "her hair was bound up in a towel"
- ▪ bandage (a wound): "he cleaned the wound and bound it up with a clean dressing" Similar bandagedresscoverwrapswatheswaddlestrap uptape up
- ▪ (of an object) be encircled by something, typically metal bands, so as to have greater strength: "an ancient oak chest bound with brass braces"
- 2. cohere or cause to cohere in a single mass: "mix the flour with the coconut and enough egg white to bind them" Similar stickcohere
- ▪ cause (painting pigments) to form a smooth medium by mixing them with oil: "use a white that is bound in linseed oil"
- ▪ hold by chemical bonding: "a protein in a form that can bind DNA"
- 3. cause (people) to feel united: "it's music that has bound us together" Similar unitejoinbondknit togetherdraw togetheryoke togetherOpposite separate
- 4. impose a legal or contractual obligation on: "a party who signs a document will normally be bound by its terms"
- ▪ be hampered or constrained by: "Sarah did not want to be bound by a rigid timetable" Similar constrainrestrictconfinerestraintie hand and foottie downshacklehamperhinderinhibitcramp someone's styleliterary:trammel
- ▪ make a contractual or enforceable undertaking: formal "the government cannot bind itself as to the form of subsequent legislation" Similar commit oneselfundertakegive an undertakingpledgevowpromisesweargive one's word
- ▪ secure (a contract), typically with a sum of money.
- ▪ indenture (someone) as an apprentice: "he was bound apprentice at the age of sixteen"
- 5. fix together and enclose (the pages of a book) in a cover: "a small, fat volume, bound in red morocco"
- 6. trim (the edge of a piece of material) with a decorative strip: "a ruffle with the edges bound in a contrasting color" Similar trimhemedgeborderfringerimbandfinisharchaic:purfle
- 7. (of a quantifier) be applied to (a given variable) so that the variable falls within its scope.
- 8. (of a rule or set of grammatical conditions) determine the relationship between (coreferential noun phrases).
noun
- 1. a problematical situation: "he is in a political bind over the welfare issue" Similar predicamentawkward situationquandarydilemmaplightdifficult situationcleft stickmessquagmireimpassedouble bindinformal:spottight spothole
- 2. a statutory constraint: formal "the moral bind of the law"
- 3. another term for tie
- 4. another term for bine
Word Origin Old Englishbindan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German binden, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit bandh.
Scrabble Points: 7
B
3I
1N
1D
2
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