bound4

 
Pronunciation: /baʊnd/
past and past participle of bind

adjective

  • 1 [in combination] restricted or confined to a specified place: his job kept him city-bound
  • prevented from operating normally by the specified conditions: blizzard-bound Boston
  • 2 [with infinitive] certain to be or to do or have something: there is bound to be a change of plan
  • obliged by law, circumstances, or duty to do something: I’m bound to do what I can to help Sam I’m bound to say that I have some doubts
  • 3 [in combination] (of a book) having a specified binding: fine leather-bound books
  • 4(of a grammatical element) occurring only in combination with another form.
  • in Chomskyan linguistics, (of a reflexive, reciprocal, or other linguistic unit) dependent for its reference on another noun phrase in the same sentence.

Phrases

bound up in

focusing on to the exclusion of all else: she was too bound up in her own misery to care that other people were hurt

bound up with (or in)

closely connected with or related to: democracy is bound up with a measure of economic and social equality

I'll be bound

British used to emphasize that one is sure of something: she’s hatching more little plots, I’ll be bound!