bind

For the verb: "to bind"

Simple Past:	bound
Past Participle:	bound

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bind/bʌɪnd/

▶verb (past and past part. bound)

• 1 tie or fasten (something) tightly together.

  ■ restrain (someone) by tying their hands and feet.

  ■ wrap or encircle (something) tightly.

• 2 hold in a united or cohesive group or mass.

  ■ hold or combine with (a substance) by chemical bonding.

• 3 impose a legal or contractual obligation on.

  ■ indenture (someone) as an apprentice.

  ■ secure (a contract), typically with a sum of money.

  ■ (bind someone over) (of a court of law) require someone to fulfil an obligation, typically by paying a sum of money as surety.

• 4 fix together and enclose (the pages of a book) in a cover.

• 5 trim (the edge of a piece of material) with a fabric strip.

• 6 Logic (of a quantifier) be applied to (a given variable) so that the variable falls within its scope.

• 7 (of a food or medicine) make (someone) constipated.

▶noun

• 1 informal an annoyance.

  ■ a problematical situation.

• 2 a statutory constraint.

• 3 Music another term for tie.

• 4 another term for bine.

– origin OE bindan, of Gmc origin.