I. BE BOUND
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
Bound is the past tense and past participle of bind .
2.
If you say that something is ~ 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.
There are ~ to be price increases next year...
If you are topless in a public place, this sort of thing is ~ to happen.
PHRASE
3.
If you say that something is ~ to happen or be true, you feel confident and certain of it, although you have no definite knowledge or evidence. (SPOKEN)
I’ll show it to Benjamin. He’s ~ to know...
We’ll have more than one child, and one of them’s ~ to be a boy.
PHRASE
4.
If one person, thing, or situation is ~ to another, they are closely associated with each other, and it is difficult for them to be separated or to escape from each other.
We are as tightly ~ to the people we dislike as to the people we love...
ADJ: v-link ADJ to n
5.
If a vehicle or person is ~ for a particular place, they are travelling towards it.
The ship was ~ for Italy.
...a Russian plane ~ for Berlin.
ADJ: v-link ADJ for n
•
Bound is also a combining form.
...a Texas-~ oil freighter.
...homeward-~ commuters.
COMB in ADJ
6.
If something is ~ up in a particular form or place, it is fixed in that form or contained in that place.
The manager of a company does not like having a large chunk of his wealth ~ up in its shares...
= tied up in
PHRASE: PHR n
7.
If one thing is ~ up with or in another, they are closely connected with each other, and it is difficult to consider the two things separately.
My fate was ~ up with hers...
Their interests were completely ~ up in their careers.
= tied up with
PHRASE: PHR n, usu v-link PHR
8.
see also bind over
II. OTHER USES
(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
Bounds are limits which normally restrict what can happen or what people can do.
Changes in temperature occur slowly and are constrained within relatively tight ~s.
...a forceful personality willing to go beyond the ~s of convention.
...the ~s of good taste.
N-PLURAL: usu within/beyond N
2.
If an area of land is ~ed by something, that thing is situated around its edge.
Kirgizia is ~ed by Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
...the trees that ~ed the car park.
...the park, ~ed by two busy main roads and a huge housing estate.
VERB: be V-ed by n, V n, V-ed
3.
If someone’s life or situation is ~ed by certain things, those are its most important aspects and it is limited or restricted by them.
Our lives are ~ed by work, family and television.
V-PASSIVE: be V-ed by n
4.
If a person or animal ~s in a particular direction, they move quickly with large steps or jumps.
He ~ed up the steps and pushed the bell of the door...
= leap
VERB: V prep/adv
5.
A ~ is a long or high jump. (LITERARY)
With one ~ Jack was free.
N-COUNT: usu sing
6.
If the quantity or performance of something ~s ahead, it increases or improves quickly and suddenly.
The shares ~ed ahead a further 11p to 311p...
VERB: V adv
7.
If you say that a feeling or quality knows no ~s, you are emphasizing that it is very strong or intense.
The passion of Argentinian football fans knows no ~s.
PHRASE: V inflects emphasis
8.
If a place is out of ~s, people are not allowed to go there.
For the last few days the area has been out of ~s to foreign journalists.
PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v, oft PHR to n
9.
If something is out of ~s, people are not allowed to do it, use it, see it, or know about it.
American parents may soon be able to rule violent TV programmes out of ~s.
PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v
10.
leaps and ~s: see leap