bond
pronunciation
How to pronounce bond in British English:
UK [bɒnd]
How to pronounce bond in American English:
US [bɑːnd]
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- Noun:
- an electrical force linking atoms
- a certificate of debt (usually interest-bearing or discounted) that is issued by a government or corporation in order to raise money; the issuer is required to pay a fixed sum annually until maturity and then a fixed sum to repay the principal
- a connection based on kinship or marriage or common interest
- (criminal law) money that must be forfeited by the bondsman if an accused person fails to appear in court for trial
- a restraint that confines or restricts freedom (especially something used to tie down or restrain a prisoner)
- a connection that fastens things together
- a superior quality of strong durable white writing paper; originally made for printing documents
- the property of sticking together (as of glue and wood) or the joining of surfaces of different composition
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- Verb:
- stick to firmly
- create social or emotional ties
- issue bonds on
- bring together in a common cause or emotion
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- Adjective:
- held in slavery
Word Origin
- bond
- bond: English has two distinct words bond, which started life very differently but have gradually grown together. Bond ‘something that binds’ [13] was originally the same word as band (from Old Norse band), and only gradually diverged from it in pronunciation, spelling, and meaning. The key modern legal and financial senses began to develop in the 16th century, the underlying notion being of something one is ‘bound’ or ‘tied’ to by a promise. Bond ‘bound in slavery’ [14], as in bondservant, is an adjectival use of the late Old English noun bonda ‘householder’, which came from Old Norse bóndi (the second element of húsbóndi, from which English gets husband).This represented an earlier bóandi, which was originally the present participle of east Norse bóa ‘dwell’, a derivative of the Germanic base *bū- ‘dwell’, (from which English also gets be, boor, booth, bower, build, burly, byelaw, and byre). The semantic association of ‘tying up’ and ‘servitude’ has led to the merging of the two words, as shown in the derivative bondage.=> band; be, boor, booth, build, byelaw, neighbour
- bond (n.)
- early 13c., "anything that binds," phonetic variant of band (n.1). For vowel change, see long (adj.); also influenced by Old English bonda "householder," literally "dweller" (see bondage). Legalistic sense first recorded 1590s.
- bond (v.)
- 1670s (transitive), from bond (n.). Intransitive sense from 1836. Originally of things; of persons by 1969. Related: Bonded; bonding. Male bonding attested by 1969.
Example
- 1. Those words moved the bond markets .
- 2. Long-term british bond yields are at their lowest since 1946 .
- 3. Bond investors were invited to fear the worst .
- 4. Who found the word loot a bond of union ?
- 5. The bond market long ago recognised that reality .