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 SamI’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!
