- bound (v.)
- "to leap," 1580s, from Fr. bondir "to rebound, resound, echo," from O.Fr. bondir "to leap, rebound; make a noise, beat (a drum)," 13c., ultimately "to echo back," from V.L. *bombitire "to buzz, hum" (see bomb), perhaps on model of O.Fr. tentir from V.L. *tinnitire.
- bound (adj.1)
- "fastened," mid-14c., in figurative sense of "compelled," from bounden, pp. of bind (q.v.). Meaning "under obligation" is from late 15c.; the literal sense "made fast by tying" is the latest recorded (1550s).
- bound (adj.2)
- "ready to go," c.1200, boun, from O.N. buinn pp. of bua "to prepare," also "to dwell, to live," from P.Gmc. *bowan (cf. O.H.G. buan "to dwell," O.Dan. both "dwelling, stall"), from PIE base *bheue- "to be, exist, dwell" (see be). Final -d is presumably through association with bound (adj.1).
- bound (n.)
- "limit," c.1200, from Anglo-L. bunda, from O.Fr. bonde "limit, boundary, boundary stone" (12c., Mod.Fr. borne), variant of bodne, from M.L. bodina, perhaps from Gaulish. Now chiefly in out of bounds, which originally referred to limits imposed on students at schools. The verb meaning "to form the boundary of" is from c.1600. Boundless is from 1590s.
- bound
- past tense of bind (v.).