What does "bind" mean?

Additional senses

1. 2.Whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years. Luke xiii.
2. 3.3. To cover, as with a bandage; to bandage or dress; -- sometimes with up; as, to bind up a wound.
3. 4.To make fast ( a thing) about or upon something, as by tying; to encircle with something; as, to bind a belt about one; to bind a compress upon a part.
4. 5.To prevent or restrain from customary or natural action; as, certain drugs bind the bowels.
5. 6.To protect or strengthen by a band or binding, as the edge of a carpet or garment.
6. 7.To sew or fasten together, and inclose in a cover; as, to bind a book.
7. 8.Fig.: To oblige, restrain, or hold, by authority, law, duty, promise, vow, affection, or other moral tie; as, to bind the conscience; to bind by kindness; bound by affection; commerce binds nations to each other. Who made our laws to bind us, not himself. Milton.
8. 9.(Law) (a) To bring (any one) under definite legal obligations; esp. under the obligation of a bond or covenant. Abbott. (b) To place under legal obligation to serve; to indenture; as, to bind an apprentice; -- sometimes with out; as, bound out to service. To bind over, to put under bonds to do something, as to appear at court, to keep the peace, etc. -- To bind to, to contract; as, to bind one's self to a wife. -- To bind up in, to cause to be wholly engrossed with; to absorb in.
9. 10.To tie; to confine by any ligature. They that reap must sheaf and bind. Shak.
10. 11.To contract; to grow hard or stiff; to cohere or stick together in a mass; as, clay binds by heat. Mortimer.
11. 12.To be restrained from motion, or from customary or natural action, as by friction.
12. 13.To exert a binding or restraining influence. Locke.
13. 14.That which binds or ties.
14. 15.Any twining or climbing plant or stem, esp. a hop vine; a bine.
15. 16.(Metal.) Indurated clay, when much mixed with the oxide of iron. Kirwan.
16. 17.(Mus.) A ligature or tie for grouping notes.