bound
pronunciation
How to pronounce bound in British English:
UK [baʊnd]
How to pronounce bound in American English:
US [baʊnd]
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- Noun:
- a line determining the limits of an area
- the line or plane indicating the limit or extent of something
- a light springing movement upwards or forwards
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- Verb:
- move forward by leaps and bounds
- form the boundary of; be contiguous to
- place limits on (extent or access)
- spring back; spring away from an impact
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- Adjective:
- held with another element, substance or material in chemical or physical union
- confined by bonds
- secured with a cover or binding; often used as a combining form
- (usually followed by `to') governed by fate
- covered or wrapped with a bandage
- headed or intending to head in a certain direction; often used as a combining form as in `college-bound students'
- bound by an oath
- bound by contract
- confined in the bowels
Word Origin
- bound
- bound: English has no fewer than four separate words bound. The only one which goes back to Old English is the adjective, meaning ‘obliged’ or ‘destined’, which comes from the past participle of bind (in Old English this was bunden, which survives partially in ‘bounden duty’). Next oldest is the adjective meaning ‘going or intending to go’ [13]. Originally meaning ‘ready’, this was borrowed from Old Norse búinn, the past participle of búa ‘prepare’, which derived from the same ultimate source (the Germanic base *bū- ‘dwell, cultivate’) as be, boor, booth, bower, build, burly, bye-law, and byre.The final -d of bound, which appeared in the 16th century, is probably due to association with bound ‘obliged’. Virtually contemporary is the noun bound ‘border, limit’ [13]. It originally meant ‘landmark’, and came via Anglo-Norman bounde from early Old French bodne (source also of Old French borne, from which English got bourn, as in Hamlet’s ‘undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns’).Its ultimate source was medieval Latin bodina, perhaps from a prehistoric Gaulish *bodina. Boundary [17] seems to have been formed from the dialectal bounder, an agent noun derived from the verb bound ‘form the edge or limit of’. Finally, bound ‘leap’ [16] comes from Old French bondir. It originally meant ‘rebound’ in English (rebound [14] began as an Old French derivative of bondir), but this physical sense was a metaphorical transference from an earlier sense related to sound.Old French bondir ‘resound’ came from Vulgar Latin *bombitīre ‘hum’, which itself was a derivative of Latin bombus ‘booming sound’ (source of English bomb).=> band, bend, bind, bond, bundle; be, boor, booth, bower, build, burly, byre, neighbour; boundary, bourn; bomb, rebound
- bound (v.1)
- "to form the boundary of," also "to set the boundaries of," late 14c., from bound (n.). Related: Bounded; bounding.
- bound (v.2)
- "to leap," 1580s, from Middle French bondir "to rebound, resound, echo," from Old French bondir "to leap, jump, rebound; make a noise, sound (a horn), beat (a drum)," 13c., ultimately "to echo back," from Vulgar Latin *bombitire "to buzz, hum" (see bomb (n.)), perhaps on model of Old French tentir, from Vulgar Latin *tinnitire.
- bound (adj.1)
- "fastened," mid-14c., in figurative sense of "compelled," from bounden, past participle of bind (v.). Meaning "under obligation" is from late 15c.; the literal sense "made fast by tying" is the latest recorded (1550s).
- bound (adj.2)
- "ready to go," c. 1200, boun, from Old Norse buinn past participle of bua "to prepare," also "to dwell, to live," from Proto-Germanic *bowan (cognates: Old High German buan "to dwell," Old Danish both "dwelling, stall"), from PIE root *bheue- "to be, exist, dwell" (see be). Final -d is presumably through association with bound (adj.1).
- bound (n.1)
- "limit," c. 1200, from Anglo-Latin bunda, from Old French bonde "limit, boundary, boundary stone" (12c., Modern French borne), variant of bodne, from Medieval Latin bodina, perhaps from Gaulish. Now chiefly in out of bounds, which originally referred to limits imposed on students at schools.
- bound (n.2)
- "a leap, a springing," 1580s, from bound (v.2).
Example
- 1. Once a person is married , they are bound to stay married till one dies .
- 2. Economic and social pressures are loosening the filial obligations that have long bound chinese society .
- 3. Don 't be bound by expectations !
- 4. He has motor neurone disease and is wheelchair bound .
- 5. I 'm bound to pass by all these poppies and pansies .