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To fasten, as with a nail; to bind or hold, as to a bargain or to acquiescence in an argument or assertion; hence, to catch; to trap. When they came to talk of places in town, you saw at once how I nailed them. Goldsmith.

A running knot, or loop, which binds the closer the more it is drawn.

To make known; to declare; to publish; as, to notify a fact to a person. No law can bind till it be notified or promulged. Sowth.

Of no legal or binding force or validity; of no efficacy; invalid; void; nugatory; useless. Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null, Dead perfection; no more. Tennyson.

, toward, before, against, reversely, etc.; also, as a simple intensive; as in oblige, to bind to; obstacle, something standing before; object, lit., to throw against; obovate, reversely, ovate. Ob- is commonly assimilated before c, f, g, and p, to oc-, of-, og-, and op-.

A binding by oath. [R.] Abp. Bramhall.

To bind or firmly hold to an act; to compel; to constrain; to bind to any act of duty or courtesy by a formal pledge. That they may not incline or be obligated to any vile or lowly occupations. Landor.

That which obligates or constrains; the binding power of a promise, contract, oath, or vow, or of law; that which constitutes legal or moral duty. A tender conscience is a stronger obligation than a proson. Fuller.

Binding in law or conscience; imposing duty or obligation; requiring performance or forbearance of some act; -- often followed by on or upon; as, obedience is obligatory on a soldier. As long as the law is obligatory, so long our obedience is due. Jer. Taylor.

To bind by some favor rendered; to place under a debt; hence, to do a favor to; to please; to gratify; to accommodate. Thus man, by his own strength, to heaven would soar, And would not be obliged to God for more. Dryden. The gates before it are brass, and the whole much obliged to Pope Urban VIII. Evelyn. I shall be m…

The person who binds himself, or gives his bond to another. Blackstone.

To bind with a thread or cord; to join; to unite. [Scot.] Jamieson.

he flesh side for special purposes. Ordinary ooze leather is used for shoe uppers, in bookbinding, etc. Hence Ooze calf, Ooze finish, etc.

, starch and water, or the like, -- used for uniting paper or other substances, as in bookbinding, etc., -- also used in calico printing as a vehicle for mordant or color.

loaves of bread from a baker's oven; also, a T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry. Also, the blade of an oar.

presentation by action; as, the performance of an undertaking of a duty. Promises are not binding where the performance is impossible. Paley.

large stone reaching through a wall so as to appear on both sides of it, and acting as a binder; -- called also perbend, perpend stone, and perpent stone.

To bind or confine the wings of; to confine by binding the wings. Bacon.

of the body, and is used, according to its composition, to produce a medicinal effect, to bind parts together, etc.; as, a porous plaster; sticking plaster.

A promise or agreement by which one binds one's self to do, or to refrain from doing, something; especially, a solemn promise in writing to refrain from using intoxicating liquors or the like; as, to sign the pledge; the mayor had made no pledges.