bound

1 of 7

adjective (1)

1
a
: fastened by or as if by a band : confined
desk-bound
b
: very likely : sure
bound to rain soon
2
: placed under legal or moral restraint or obligation : obliged
duty-bound
3
of a book : secured to the covers by cords, tapes, or glue
leather-bound
4
: determined, resolved
was bound and determined to have his way
5
: held in chemical or physical combination
6
: made costive (see costive sense 1a) : constipated
7
: always occurring in combination with another linguistic form
un- in unknown and -er in speaker are bound forms
compare free entry 1 sense 11d

bound

2 of 7

past tense and past participle of bind

bound

3 of 7

adjective (2)

1
: intending to go : going
bound for home
college-bound
2
archaic : ready

bound

4 of 7

noun (1)

plural bounds
1
: leap, jump
cleared the hedge at a bound
2
: the action of rebounding : bounce

bound

5 of 7

verb (1)

bounded; bounding; bounds

intransitive verb

1
: to move by leaping
deer bounding across a field
She bounded down the stairs.
2
: rebound, bounce
a bounding rubber ball

bound

6 of 7

noun (2)

plural bounds
1
a
: a limiting line : boundary
usually used in plural
The ball landed out of bounds.
b
: something that limits or restrains
beyond the bounds of decency
police officers overstepping their bound
2
usually bounds
b
: the land within certain bounds
woodland bounds
3
mathematics : a number greater than or equal to every number in a set (such as the range of a function)
also : a number less than or equal to every number in a set

bound

7 of 7

verb

bounded; bounding; bounds

transitive verb

1
: to form a separating line or the boundary of : enclose
A chain-link fence bounds the yard.
The state is bounded on its east by the Connecticut River.
2
: to set limits to : confine
art … is always greater than the rules with which we may attempt to bound itC. S. Kilby
3
: to name the boundaries of
Students were asked to bound their state.

Examples of bound in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Another man with cuts and bruises to his face was shown being questioned via an interpreter while sitting on a bench with bound hands and feet. Guy Faulconbridge, USA TODAY, 23 Mar. 2024 In 2017, passengers on a deportation flight to Somalia said they were left bound and shackled in their seats for 23 hours during a stopover, some forced to soil themselves because they were denied bathroom visits. Mckenzie Funk, ProPublica, 8 Mar. 2024 This led to an additional improvement of omega’s upper bound, reducing it to 2.371552. Quanta Magazine, 7 Mar. 2024 Biden and his immediate successors will not be able to peel Beijing away from Moscow the way that U.S. President Richard Nixon did following his 1972 visit to China; China and Russia are too tightly bound, and both see U.S. global leadership as a threat. Max Bergmann, Foreign Affairs, 6 Mar. 2024 Abu Al-Ola’s hands remained bound, with the yellow cloth resting across his forehead. Chantal Da Silva, NBC News, 22 Feb. 2024 The brim is cut, and the edges are either welted, bound, curled, or, in some cases, left raw. Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 3 Mar. 2024 However, Glasner’s formal rigidity prevents their stories from feeling intrinsically bound, leaving each of them with little to say. Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Feb. 2024 But the people selling bound versions of popular fics for profit are cut from a different (book) cloth. Elizabeth Minkel, WIRED, 28 Feb. 2024
Noun
To read now that Santa Clara County, on the heels of the county counsel’s egregious overstepping of their bounds in the preventable deaths of baby Phoenix and other children, now allows parents suspected of abuse to sit in on their children’s interviews is unfathomable. Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 8 Mar. 2024 Giving back to the game In 2008, at the age of 38, Sorenstam made the decision to walk away from competitive golf – but she’s never strayed far out of bounds. Michelle Cohan, CNN, 7 Mar. 2024 Mere minutes later, after play continued and Auburn guard Aden Holloway appeared to step out of bounds trying to save an errant ball, Gates was jumping up and down on the sideline while petitioning with an official. Calum McAndrew, Kansas City Star, 5 Mar. 2024 Fox then looked to Monk, narrowly avoiding a five-second violation, but the pass sailed out of bounds before Monk could get to it. Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 5 Mar. 2024 The Chancellors had a three-point lead in the final seconds, missed two free throws, threw the ball away out of bounds and gave up consecutive threes in less than three seconds to lose to LACES. Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2024 Their primary logo was equally forgettable: the name of the team inside of a streaking basketball, which was presumably a pass being thrown out of bounds. Scott Cacciola, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2024 Optimistically, living outside the bounds of traditional ad format lengths (specifically the traditional time constrained 30/60/90 units) means lots of creative freedom and experimentation in a growing and expansive art form. Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024 And when Charlie hit a ball out of bounds, several fans were apparently looking in the bushes for the ball to serve as a keepsake. Natasha Dye, Peoplemag, 23 Feb. 2024
Verb
The reason for his recoil was soon revealed as a frog bounded out of the long grass around his ball. Jack Bantock, CNN, 15 Mar. 2024 China claims much of the South China Sea, part of the Pacific Ocean that is bounded by China, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei. Regine Cabato, Washington Post, 9 Mar. 2024 The single dips to No. 2 on the Digital Song Sales chart, after two weeks at No. 1, and to No. 3 after a week atop Streaming Songs, while bounding 43-23 on Radio Songs, as the song claims top Airplay Gainer honors on the Hot 100 for a second week. Gary Trust, Billboard, 4 Mar. 2024 Transplants adore the island's quiet beaches, which are bounded by rolling dunes and sapphire waves. Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 23 Feb. 2024 Baltimore suffered its greatest calamity 120 years ago on Feb. 7, 1904, when a catastrophic fire destroyed 140 acres of downtown — an area that today is bounded roughly by the CFG Bank Arena, President and Fayette streets, and the harbor. Fred Shoken, Baltimore Sun, 18 Jan. 2024 Roosevelt Row is generally bounded by Seventh Street on the east and Seventh Avenue on the west. The Arizona Republic, 1 Mar. 2024 In the San Francisco Bay Area, riders will now be able to catch robotaxi rides between San Francisco and Sunnyvale, bounded by Interstate 280 to the west. Aarian Marshall, WIRED, 1 Mar. 2024 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a stammering bachelor professor of mathematics at Oxford University, was a gifted amateur exponent of the fledgling art of photography and a man of profound religious beliefs and bounding imagination. Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 28 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bound.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective (1)

Middle English bounden, from past participle of binden to bind

Adjective (2)

Middle English boun, from Old Norse būinn, past participle of būa to dwell, prepare; akin to Old High German būan to dwell — more at bower

Noun (1) and Verb (1)

Middle French bond, from bondir to leap, from Vulgar Latin *bombitire to hum, from Latin bombus deep hollow sound — more at bomb entry 1

Noun (2) and Verb

Middle English, from Anglo-French bounde, bodne, from Medieval Latin bodina

First Known Use

Adjective (1)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Adjective (2)

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Noun (1)

circa 1556, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb (1)

1593, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of bound was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near bound

Cite this Entry

“Bound.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bound. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

bound

1 of 7 adjective
: going or intending to go
bound for home
college-bound

bound

2 of 7 noun
1
: a boundary line
2
: a point or line beyond which one cannot go : limit
out of bounds
3
: the land within a boundary
usually used in plural

bound

3 of 7 verb
1
: to set limits to : confine
2
a
: to form the boundary of : enclose
b
: to lie next to
3
: to name the boundaries of

bound

4 of 7

past and past participle of bind

bound

5 of 7 adjective
1
: fastened by or as if by bands : confined
desk-bound
2
: required by law or duty
3
: having a binding
bound notebook
4
: firmly determined
we were bound we would succeed
5
: very likely to do something : certain, sure
6
: always found in combination with another word or word part (as un- in unknown and -er in speaker)

bound

6 of 7 noun
1
: a long easy leap
2

bound

7 of 7 verb
1
: to move by leaping
2
Etymology

Adjective

Middle English boun "ready"; of Norse origin

Noun

Middle English bound "boundary," from early French bodne (same meaning), from Latin bodina "boundary"

Adjective

Middle English bounden "fastened, tied," from binden "bind"

Noun

from early French bond "a leap," from bondir "to leap"

Medical Definition

bound

adjective
1
: made costive : constipated
2
: held in chemical or physical combination
bound water in a molecule

Legal Definition

bound

1 of 4 noun
1
: boundary
usually used in pl.
metes and bounds
2
: something that limits or restrains
within the bounds of the law

bound

2 of 4

past and past participle of bind

bound

3 of 4 transitive verb
: to form the boundary of or enclose
property bounded on the north by a stone wall

bound

4 of 4 adjective
: placed under a legal or moral restraint or obligation

More from Merriam-Webster on bound

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