bounden

Etymology

bound +‎ -en, the archaic past participle of bind.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʊnd(ə)n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʊndən/
• Hyphenation: bound‧en

Adjective

bounden (comparative more bounden, superlative most bounden)

1. Made obligatory; binding.
   • 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], chapter XIX, in Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. In Three Volumes, volume III, Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, OCLC 270129598, page 282:

     That I wad wi' a' my heart; and mickle obliged to your honour for putting me in mind o' my bounden duty.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July​, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Miss Crawley at Nurse”, in Vanity Fair. A Novel without a Hero, London: Bradbury and Evans, 11, Bouverie Street, published 1848, OCLC 3174108, page 165:

     She imparted these stories gradually to Miss Crawley; gave her the whole benefit of them; felt it to be her bounden duty as a Christian woman and mother of a family to do so; had not the smallest remorse or compunction for the victim whom her tongue was immolating; nay, very likely thought her act was quite meritorious, and plumed herself upon her resolute manner of performing it.

2. (archaic) Bound.

Verb

bounden

1. (transitive, archaic, rare) past participle of bind.
   1. (intransitive, archaic, specifically) To be obliged; to be under a duty or obligation (to do something).
      • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene iii], page 11, column 2:

        I am much bounden to your Maieſty.

      • 1626, William Roper; S. W. Singer, The Mirrour of Vertue in Worldly Greatnes. Or The Life of Syr Thomas More Knight, sometime Lo. Chancellour of England, new revised and corrected edition, Paris [i.e. Saint-Omer]: [Printed at the English College Press], OCLC 837637215; republished as The Life of Sir Thomas More, by His Son-in-law, William Roper, Esq. […], Chiswick, London: From the press of C[harles] Whittingham, for R. Triphook, […], 1822, OCLC 54291031, page 36:

        In the concluding whereof Sir Thomas More so worthily handled himself, procuring in our league far more benefits unto this realm, than at that time, by the king or his council was thought possible to be compassed, that for his good service in that voyage, the king, when he after made him Lord Chancellor, caused the Duke of Norfolk openly to declare to the people, as you shall hear hereafter more at large, how much all England was bounden unto him.

      • 1963, William A. Owens, chapter 2, in Look to the River, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum; republished as Look to the River (Texas Tradition Series; 8), Fort Worth, Tex.: Texas Christian University Press, 1988, →ISBN, OCLC 933573, page 20:

        He'll mind, I reckon, not getting any work out'n me, but I won't be bounden to him any longer. How can he keep me if I ain't bounden to him?

References

Anagrams

• unboned