bound

Etymology 1

From Middle English bound, bund (preterite) and bounden, bunden, ibunden, ȝebunden (past participle), from Old English bund- and bunden, ġebunden respectively. See bind.

verb

1. simple past and past participle of bind
   “[…] Captain Markam had been found lying half-insensible, gagged and bound, on the floor of the sitting-room, his hands and feet tightly pinioned, and a woollen comforter wound closely round his mouth and neck ; whilst Mrs. Markham's jewel-case, containing valuable jewellery and the secret plans of Port Arthur, had disappeared. […]” 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Fate of the Artemis
   I bound the splint to my leg.
   I had bound the splint with duct tape.

adj

1. (with infinitive) Obliged (to).
   You are not legally bound to reply.
   Then I had a good think on the subject of the hocussing of Cigarette, and I was reluctantly bound to admit that once again the man in the corner had found the only possible solution to the mystery. 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 5, in The Hocussing of Cigarette
2. (linguistics, of a morpheme) That cannot stand alone as a free word.
3. (mathematics, logic, of a variable) Constrained by a quantifier.
4. (dated) Constipated; costive.
5. Confined or restricted to a certain place; e.g. railbound.
6. Unable to move in certain conditions; e.g. snowbound.

Etymology 2

From Middle English bownde, alternation (with -d partly for euphonic effect and partly by association with Etymology 1 above) of Middle English boun, from Old Norse búinn, past participle of búa (“to prepare”).

adj

1. (obsolete) Ready, prepared.
2. Ready to start or go (to); moving in the direction (of).
   Which way are you bound?
   Is that message bound for me?
3. (with infinitive) Very likely (to), certain to
   When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. And the queerer the cure for those ailings the bigger the attraction. A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   They were bound to come into conflict eventually.

Etymology 3

From Middle English bounde, from Old French bunne, from Medieval Latin bodina, earlier butina (“a bound, limit”).

noun

1. (often used in plural) A boundary, the border which one must cross in order to enter or leave a territory.
   I reached the northern bound of my property, took a deep breath and walked on.
   Somewhere within these bounds you may find a buried treasure.
2. (mathematics) A value which is known to be greater or smaller than a given set of values.

Etymology 4

From Middle English bounden, from the noun (see above).

verb

1. To surround a territory or other geographical entity; to form the boundary of.
   France, Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra bound Spain.
   Kansas is bounded by Nebraska on the north, Missouri on the east, Oklahoma on the south and Colorado on the west.
   Mexico is bounded on the north by the United States of America, whose frontier is marked as follows: from the mouth of the Rio Bravo, or Rio Grande del Norte, following the course of the river to the parallel of 31° 47'; […] 1884, Alfred Ronald Conkling, Appleton's Guide to Mexico, page 25
   The Scottish Region is issuing a Day Rail-Rover Ticket, available at 12 hours' notice, permitting unlimited travel in an area bounded by Edinburgh, St. Andrews, Dundee, Perth, Comrie, Callander, Stirling and Falkirk for 25s. (children, 12s. 6d.). . . . 1960 September, “Talking of Trains: News in Brief”, in Trains Illustrated, page 523
2. (transitive, mathematics) To be the bound of.

Etymology 5

From Middle English *bounden (attested as bounten), from French bondir (“leap", "bound", originally "make a loud resounding noise”); perhaps from Late Latin bombitāre, present active infinitive of bombitō (“hum, buzz”), frequentative verb, from Latin bombus (“a humming or buzzing”).

noun

1. A sizeable jump, great leap.
   The deer crossed the stream in a single bound.
2. A spring from one foot to the other in dancing.
3. (dated) A bounce; a rebound.

verb

1. (intransitive) To leap, move by jumping.
   They make love, he hauls her to the bath, washes her, hauls her out and dries her, and twenty minutes later Mary and Magnus are bounding across the little park on the top of Döbling like the happy couple they nearly are, past the sandpits and the climbing frame that Tom is too big for, past the elephant cage where Tom kicks his football, down the hill towards the Restaurant Teheran which is their improbable pub because Magnus so adores the black and white videos of Arab romances they play for you with the sound down while you eat your couscous and drink your Kalterer. 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy
   The rabbit bounded down the lane.
2. (transitive) To cause to leap.
   to bound a horse
   […] Or if I might buffet for my Loue, or bound my Horſe for her fauours, I could lay on like a Butcher, and fit like a Iack an Apes, neuer off. , Act V, Scene II, page 93
3. (intransitive, dated) To rebound; to bounce.
   a rubber ball bounds on the floor
4. (transitive, dated) To cause to rebound; to throw so that it will rebound; to bounce.
   to bound a ball on the floor