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.
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.
Syn. -- To fetter; tie; fasten; restrain; restrict; oblige.
Bind (&?;), v. i. 1. To tie; to confine by any ligature.
They that reap must sheaf and bind.
Shak.
2. To contract; to grow hard or stiff; to cohere or stick together in a mass; as, clay binds by heat. Mortimer.
3. To be restrained from motion, or from customary or natural action, as by friction.