All 14 Uses of
bound
in
The Sunlight Dialogues
- Yet thanks I must you con, That you are thieves profess'd; that you work not In holier shapes: for there is boundless theft In limited professions.†
Chpt 17 *boundless = without boundaries or limitsstandard suffix: The suffix "-less" in boundless means without. This is the same pattern you see in words like fearless, homeless, and endless.
- There was some bumping and scuffing, and then he came bounding down the stairs, agile as a tiger, his curly long hair flopping around his ears, a cigarette in his mouth.†
Chpt 17 *bounding = leaping or jumping
- Four boys ran into the area framed by roof and leaves, one of them wearing a bright yellow jacket, and then the next instant they were out of it again, bounding up onto his porch and along it to Clumly's right and then away, out through the garden.†
Chpt 19
- That was what she'd learned, a startling and terrible but also exhilarating discovery that brought with it a sudden sense of vaulting joy, of freedom—an escape into wilderness and boundless time: she could kill herself if she pleased, she had realized, standing at the open window dreaming of it; because the pain was hers, not her husband's, whatever pain of his own he might feel.†
Chpt 23boundless = without boundaries or limitsstandard suffix: The suffix "-less" in boundless means without. This is the same pattern you see in words like fearless, homeless, and endless.
- Three had been bound over for trial; the fourth was being held, by order of the court, until the County could administer a psychiatric examination.†
Chpt 1
- Hodge had given him already the books he'd come for, three large old canvas-bound volumes of Genesee and Erie County maps, Will's property left in the office from the days of their brief, unhappy partnership.†
Chpt 3
- He bounded down, his mouth gaping open, and met Louise running up to meet him.†
Chpt 8
- He bounded closer, like a fencer, and shook his finger under her nose.†
Chpt 12
- her seducing, gently, gently, or he'd watched the boy seducing her—for who could say where the blame belonged, since each of them was playing the game by rules not clearly understood, playing it toward an outcome neither of them anticipated except in secret, an end they no doubt imagined would never come, not in life, could come only in books: so that only he, Will Hodge, had known the whole deadly process with certainty, by the knotting of his belly, and he'd done nothing, hadn't known what to do—had barked "Millie!" once when she overleaped all the bounds of decorum (but overleaped only in play of course, play)—and had once said, "Millie, stop teasing that boy," but she'd said, "Why not?†
Chpt 13
- As for industry, used to be in 1900 almost half the population was engaged in that, but it's slipping by leaps and bounds.†
Chpt 19
- You know that in any profession there's bound to be some incompetents, dishonest people, people full of malice—schoolteachers, doctors, lawyers, dentists.†
Chpt 19
- For three days, off and on, he'd kept them in the wet and dark of the cellar, in dark water where rats swam, bound tightly hand foot and waist.†
Chpt 20
- And so they were here, half-starved, in pain, frightened, heads drooping, miserably bound to their three splintery cellar posts.†
Chpt 20 *
- He stood relaxed against the post, no longer resisting the ropes that bound his hands and feet and chest, the gag biting into his cheeks.†
Chpt 20
Definitions:
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(1)
(bound as in: south-bound lanes) traveling in a particular direction or to a specific location
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(2)
(bound as in: bound to succeed) almost certain to; or determined to
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(3)
(bound as in: bound together or bound by law) constrained and/or held together or wrappedThe sense of constrained, can mean tied up or obligated depending upon the context. For example:
- "Her wrists were bound." -- tied up
- "I am bound by my word." -- required or obligated (in this case to keep a promise)
- "He is muscle bound." -- prevented from moving easily (due to having such large, tight muscles)
The exact meaning of the senses of held together or wrapped also depend upon context. For example:- "The pages of the book are bound with glue." -- held together physically
- "The book is bound in leather." -- wrapped or covered
- "The United States and England are bound together by a common language." -- connected or united (tied together, figuratively)
- "She cleaned the wound and bound it with fresh bandages." -- wrapped
- "She is wheelchair-bound." -- connected (moves with a wheelchair because she is unable to walk)
- "The jacket has bound buttonholes." -- edges wrapped by fabric or trim rather than stitches
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(4)
(bound as in: out of bounds) a boundary or limit
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(5)
(bound as in: The deer bound across the trail.) to leap or jump
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(6)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
For more specialized senses of bound, see a comprehensive dictionary. For example, the word can refer to constipation and has specialized meanings in law, chemistry, logic, and linguistics.