bind

BIND, verb transitive 1. To tie together, or confine with a cord, or any thing that is flexible; to fasten as with a band, fillet or ligature. 2. To gird, inwrap or involve; to confine by a wrapper, cover or bandage; sometimes with up; as, to bind up a wound. 3. To confine or restrain, as with a chain, fetters or cord; as, bind him hand and foot. 4. To restrain in any manner. He bindeth the floods from overflowing. Job 28:11. 5. To oblige by a promise, vow, stipulation, covenant, law, duty or any other moral tie; to engage. If a man shall swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond. Numbers 30:2. We are bound by the laws of kindness, of nature, of a state, etc. 6. To confirm or ratify. Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven. Matthew 16:19. 7. To distress, trouble, or confine by infirmity. Whom Satan hath bound these eighteen years. Luke 13:1. 8. To constrain by a powerful influence or persuasion. I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem. Acts 20:1. 9. To restrain the natural discharges of the bowels; to make costive; as, certain kinds of food bind the body or bowels. 10. To form a border; to fasten with a band, ribin, or any thing that strengthens the edges; as, to bind a garment or carpet. 11. To cover with leather or anything firm; to sew together and cover; as, to bind a book. 12. To cover or secure by a band; as, to bind a wheel with tire. 13. To oblige to serve, by contract; as, to bind an apprentice; often with out; as, to bind out a servant. 14. To make hard or firm; as, certain substances bind the earth. To bind to is to contract; as, to bind one's self to a wife. To bind over is to oblige by bond to appear at a court. BIND, verb intransitive To contract; to grow hard or stiff; as, clay binds by heat. 1. To grow or become costive. 2. To be obligatory. BIND, noun A stalk of hops, so called from its winding round a pole or tree, or being bound to it. 1. A bind of eels, is a quantity consisting of 10 strikes, each containing 25 eels, or 250 in the whole. 2. Among miners, indurated clay, when much mixed with the oxyd of iron.