bind

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To tie or secure, as with a rope or cord.
• intransitive verb To hold or restrain by tying with rope or bonds:
• intransitive verb To fasten or wrap by encircling, as with a belt or ribbon.
• intransitive verb To bandage.
• intransitive verb To compel, constrain, or unite.
• intransitive verb To make certain or irrevocable.
• intransitive verb Law To place under legal obligation.
• intransitive verb To apprentice or indenture.
• intransitive verb Chemistry To combine with, form a chemical bond with, or be taken up by, as an enzyme with its substrate.
• intransitive verb To cause to cohere or stick together in a mass.
• intransitive verb To constipate.
• intransitive verb To enclose and fasten (the pages of a book or other printed material) between covers.
• intransitive verb To furnish with an edge or border for protection, reinforcement, or ornamentation.
• intransitive verb To tie up or fasten something.
• intransitive verb To stick or become stuck.
• intransitive verb To be uncomfortably tight or restricting, as clothes.
• intransitive verb To become compact or solid; cohere.
• intransitive verb To be compelling, constraining, or unifying.
• intransitive verb Chemistry To combine chemically or form a chemical bond.
• noun The act of binding.
• noun The state of being bound.
• noun Something that binds.
• noun A place where something binds.
• noun Informal A difficult, restrictive, or unresolvable situation.
• noun Music A tie, slur, or brace.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To make fast (to, on, or upon) with a band or bond of any kind.
• To unite by any legal or moral tie; attach by considerations of love, duty, interest, obligation, etc.: as, bound in the bonds of matrimony; bound by gratitude, duty, debt, etc.
• To put in bonds or fetters; deprive of liberty or of the use of the limbs by making fast physically.
• To restrain; hold to a particular state, place, employment, etc.
• To hinder or restrain (the bowels) from their natural operations; make costive; constipate.
• To fasten around anything; fix in place by girding or tying: as, to bind a cord round the arm.
• To encircle with a band or ligature; gird; confine or restrain by girding: as, “bind up those tresses,”
• To swathe or bandage; cover and swathe with dressings: with up.
• To form a border or edge on, for the purpose of strengthening or ornamenting; edge: as, to bind a wheel with a tire; to bind a garment or a carpet.
• To tie or fasten (loose things) together with a band, cord, or tie; tie up into one bundle or mass: as, to bind sheaves of grain.
• To fasten or secure within a cover, as a book or pamphlet. See bookbinding.
• In fencing, to secure (the sword of an adversary). See binding, n., 3.
• To cause to cohere; cement; knit; unite firmly: as, to bind the loose sand.
• To place under obligation or compulsion: as, all are bound to obey the laws.
• To put under legal obligation: often with over: as, to bind a man over to keep the peace.
• Specifically To indenture as an apprentice: often with out.
• To cohere; stick together.
• To become indurated, hard, or stiff: as, clay binds by heat.