The company is bound by a special agreement to involve the union in important decisions. The judge who presided over the trial told the panel's members they were not bound to accept that ruling.
If you say that something is bound to happen, you mean that you are sure it will happen, because it is a natural consequence of something that is already known or exists.
1. in bonds or chains; tied with or as if with a rope: a bound prisoner. 2. (in combination) restricted; confined: housebound; fogbound. 3. (postpositive; foll by an infinitive) destined; sure; certain: it's bound to happen.
To bound is to jump or hop — usually as you run. Bound can also mean to go or to plan to go, especially to a certain destination, as in being bound for New York or homeward-bound.
to place under obligation or compulsion (usually used passively): We are bound by good sense to obey the country's laws. Law to put under legal obligation, as to keep the peace or appear as a witness (often fol. by over): This action binds them to keep the peace.
Definition of bound adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
(mathematics, logic, of a variable) Constrained by a quantifier. (dated) Constipated; costive. Confined or restricted to a certain place. Unable to move in certain conditions.
Over time, 'bound' came to describe something that is tied or linked, and it later extended its meaning to convey the idea of being obligated or constrained by a connection or relationship.