| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| bond |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  b nd |
| NOUN: | 1. Something, such as a fetter, cord, or band, that binds, ties, or fastens things together. 2. Confinement in prison; captivity. Often used in the plural. 3. A uniting force or tie; a link: the familial bond. 4. A binding agreement; a covenant. 5. A duty, promise, or other obligation by which one is bound. 6a. A substance or agent that causes two or more objects or parts to cohere. b. The union or cohesion brought about by such a substance or agent. 7. A chemical bond. 8. A systematically overlapping or alternating arrangement of bricks or stones in a wall, designed to increase strength and stability. 9. Law a. A written and sealed obligation, especially one requiring payment of a stipulated amount of money on or before a given day. b. A sum of money paid as bail or surety. c. A bail bondsman. 10. A certificate of debt issued by a government or corporation guaranteeing payment of the original investment plus interest by a specified future date. 11. The condition of taxable goods being stored in a warehouse until the taxes or duties owed on them are paid. 12. An insurance contract in which an agency guarantees payment to an employer in the event of unforeseen financial loss through the actions of an employee. 13. Bond paper. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: bond·ed, bond·ing, bonds
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To mortgage or place a guaranteed bond on. 2. To furnish bond or surety for. 3. To place (an employee, for example) under bond or guarantee. 4. To join securely, as with glue or cement. 5. To join (two or more individuals) in or as if in a nurturing relationship: “What bonded [the two men]—who spoke rarely and have little personal rapport—was patience and a conviction that uncontrolled inflation endangers . . . society” (Robert J. Samuelson). 6. To lay (bricks or stones) in an overlapping or alternating pattern. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To cohere with or as if with a bond. 2. To form a close personal relationship. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, variant of band, from Old Norse. See bhendh- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | bond a·bili·ty —NOUN
bonda·ble —ADJECTIVE
bonder —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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