bind

verb

1. (intransitive)To tie; to confine by any ligature.

   “They that reap must sheaf and bind.”

2. (intransitive)To cohere or stick together in a mass.

   “We’ll throw it in just to make the cheese more binding.”

   “unlocks their [clay’s] binding Quality.”

3. (intransitive)To be restrained from motion, or from customary or natural action, as by friction.

   “I wish I knew why the sewing machine binds up after I use it for a while.”

4. (intransitive)To exert a binding or restraining influence.

   “These are the ties that bind.”

5. (transitive)To tie or fasten tightly together, with a cord, band, ligature, chain, etc.

   “To bind grain in bundles.”

   “To bind a prisoner.”

6. (transitive)To confine, restrain, or hold by physical force or influence of any kind.

   “Gravity binds the planets to the sun.”

   “Frost binds the earth.”

   “He bindeth the flouds from ouerflowing, and the thing that is hid, bringeth he foorth to light.”

   “And ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, loe these eighteene yeeres, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

7. (transitive)To couple.
8. (figuratively)To oblige, restrain, or hold, by authority, law, duty, promise, vow, affection, or other social tie.

   “to bind the conscience.”

   “I am much bounden to your Maieſty.”

   “In the concluding whereof Sir Thomas More so worthily handled himself, procuring in our league far more benefits unto this realm, than at that time, by the king or his council was thought possible to be compassed, that for his good service in that voyage, the king, when he after made him Lord Chancellor, caused the Duke of Norfolk openly to declare to the people, as you shall hear hereafter more at large, how much all England was bounden unto him.”

   “Who made our Laws to bind us, not himſelf,”

   “He'll mind, I reckon, not getting any work out'n me, but I won't be bounden to him any longer. How can he keep me if I ain't bounden to him?”

9. To put (a person) under definite legal obligations, especially, under the obligation of a bond or covenant.
10. To place under legal obligation to serve.

    “To bind an apprenticeship.”

    “To bound out to service.”

11. (transitive)To protect or strengthen by applying a band or binding, as the edge of a carpet or garment.
12. (archaic, transitive)To make fast (a thing) about or upon something, as by tying; to encircle with something.

    “To bind a belt about one.”

    “To bind a compress upon a wound.”

13. (transitive)To cover, as with a bandage.

    “To bind up a wound.”

14. (archaic, transitive)To prevent or restrain from customary or natural action, as by producing constipation.

    “Certain drugs bind the bowels.”

15. (transitive)To put together in a cover, as of books.

    “The three novels were bound together.”

16. (transitive)To make two or more elements stick together.
17. (transitive)To associate an identifier with a value; to associate a variable name, method name, etc. with the content of a storage location.

    “We bind the variable n to the value 2, and xs to "abcd".”

    “You can bind an identifier to an object of a derived type, as you did earlier when you bound a string to an identifier of type obj[…]”

18. (transitive)To process one or more object modules into an executable program.
19. (UK, dialectal)To complain; to whine about something.

    “"But it's not much good piling up the pix if I can't sell them." "Oh do stop binding. Think of something. How will we eat, where will we sleep?"”

20. (intransitive)To wear a binder so as to flatten one's chest to give the appearance of a flat chest, usually done by trans men.

    “I haven't binded since I got my top surgery.”

    “I hear binder tech has improved since I last bound.”

noun

1. (countable)That which binds or ties.
2. (countable)A troublesome situation; a problem; a predicament or quandary.
3. (countable, uncountable)Any twining or climbing plant or stem, especially a hop vine; a bine.
4. (countable)A ligature or tie for grouping notes.
5. (countable)A strong grip or stranglehold on a position, which is difficult for the opponent to break.

   “the Maróczy Bind”

6. (countable, uncountable)The indurated clay of coal mines, or other overlying substances such as sandstone or shale.