bounds

bound ¹  (bound)

intr.v. bound·ed, bound·ing, bounds

1. To leap forward or upward; spring.

2. To progress by forward leaps or springs.

3. To bounce; rebound.

n.

1. A leap; a jump.

2. A rebound; a bounce.

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[French bondir, to bounce, from Old French, to resound, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *bombitre, from Latin bombitre, to hum, from bombus, a humming sound, from Greek bombos.]

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bound ²  (bound)

n.

1. A boundary; a limit. Often used in the plural: Our joy knew no bounds. Your remarks exceed the bounds of reason.

2. bounds The territory on, within, or near limiting lines: the bounds of the kingdom.

v. bound·ed, bound·ing, bounds

v.tr.

1. To set a limit to; confine: a high wall that bounded the prison yard; lives that were bounded by poverty.

2. To constitute the boundary or limit of: a city park that was bounded by busy streets.

3. To identify the boundaries of; demarcate.

v.intr.

To border on another place, state, or country.

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[Middle English, from Old French bodne, bonde and Anglo-Norman bunde, both from Medieval Latin bodina, of Celtic origin.]

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bound ³  (bound)

v.

Past tense and past participle of bind.

adj.

1. Confined by bonds; tied: bound and gagged hostages.

2. Being under legal or moral obligation: bound by my promise.

3. Equipped with a cover or binding: bound volumes.

4. Predetermined; certain: We're bound to be late.

5. Determined; resolved: She's bound to be mayor.

6. Linguistics Being a form, especially a morpheme, that cannot stand as an independent word, such as a prefix or suffix.

7. Constipated.

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bound ⁴  (bound)

adj.

Headed or intending to head in a specified direction: commuters bound for home; a south-bound train.

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[Alteration of Middle English boun, ready, from Old Norse binn, past participle of ba, to get ready; see bheu- in Indo-European roots.]

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bounds [baʊndz]

pl n

1. (sometimes singular) a limit; boundary (esp in the phrase know no bounds)

2. something that restrains or confines, esp the standards of a society within the bounds of modesty

beat the bounds See beat [26] See also out of bounds

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

bounds - the line or plane indicating the limit or extent of something boundary, bound hairline - the natural margin formed by hair on the head frontier - an international boundary or the area (often fortified) immediately inside the boundary heliopause - the boundary marking the edge of the sun's influence; the boundary (roughly 100 AU from the sun) between the interplanetary medium and the interstellar medium; where the solar wind from the sun and the radiation from other stars meet border, borderline, boundary line, delimitation, mete - a line that indicates a boundary bourn, bourne - an archaic term for a boundary district line - the boundary between two districts county line - the boundary between two counties city line - the boundary of a city edge, border - the boundary of a surface end - a boundary marking the extremities of something; "the end of town" extremity - the outermost or farthest region or point demarcation, demarcation line, limit - the boundary of a specific area lineation, outline - the line that appears to bound an object surface - the extended two-dimensional outer boundary of a three-dimensional object; "they skimmed over the surface of the water"; "a brush small enough to clean every dental surface"; "the sun has no distinct surface" shoreline - a boundary line between land and water

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bounds

plural noun

1. limits, restrictions, confines, limitations the bounds of good taste

2. boundary, line, limit, edge, border, march, margin, pale, confine, frontier, fringe, verge, rim, perimeter, periphery The bounds of the empire continued to expand.

out of bounds forbidden, barred, banned, not allowed, vetoed, prohibited, taboo, closed off, off-limits (chiefly U.S. military), proscribed, verboten (German) Tibet was now virtually out of bounds to foreign journalists.

Translations

bounds [baʊndz] npl → limiti mpl
out of bounds → vietato or proibito l'accesso
within the bounds of modesty → nei limiti della decenza
his ambition knows no bounds → la sua ambizione è senza limiti or non conosce limiti