Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BOUL'TIN, n. [from the root of bolt; Sp. bulto, a protuberance.]

In architecture, a molding, the convexity of which is just one fourth of a circle, being a member just below the plinth in the Tuscan and Doric capital. – Encyc.

BOUNCE, n.

1. A heavy blow, thrust or thump with a large solid body. The bounce burst open the door. – Dryden.
2. A loud heavy sound, as by an explosion. – Shak. Gay.
3. A boast; a threat; in low language. – Johnson.
4. A fish; a species of Squalus or shark. – Encyc.

BOUNCE, v.i. [D. bonzen, to bounce; bons, a bounce; allied probably to bound; Arm. boundiçza; Fr. bondir.]

1. To leap or spring; to fly or rush out suddenly. Out bounced the mastif. – Swift.
2. To spring or leap against any thing, so as to rebound; to beat or thump by a spring. Against his bosom bounced his heaving heart. – Dryden.
3. To beat hard, or thump, so as to make a sudden noise. Another bounced as hard as he could knock. – Swift.
4. To boast or bully; used in familiar speech. – Johnson.
5. To be bold or strong. – Shak.

BOUN'CER, n.

A boaster; a bully; in familiar language. – Johnson.

BOUN'CING, a.

Stout; strong; large and heavy; a customary sense in the United States; as, a bouncing lass.

BOUN'CING, ppr.

Leaping; bounding with violence, as a heavy body; springing out; thumping with a loud noise; boasting; moving with force, as a heavy bounding body.

BOUN'CING-LY, adv.

Boastingly.

BOUND, n. [Norm. bonne, boune, a bound; bond, limited; bundes, limits; from bind, bond, that which binds; or from French bondir, to spring, and denoting the utmost extent.]

1. A limit; the line which comprehends the whole of any given object or space. It differs from boundary. See the latter. Bound is applied to kingdoms, states, cities, towns, tracts of land, and to territorial jurisdiction.
2. A limit by which any excursion is restrained; the limit of indulgence or desire; as, the love of money knows no bounds.
3. A leap; a spring; a jump; a rebound; [Fr. bondir, to spring.]
4. In dancing, a spring from one foot to the other.

BOUND, pp. [and pret. of Bind.]

1. As a participle, made fast by a band, or by chains or fetters; obliged by moral ties; confined; restrained.
2. As a participle, or perhaps more properly as adjective, destined; tending; going, or intending to go; with to or for; as, a ship is bound to Cadiz, or for Cadiz. The application of this word, in this use, is taken from the orders given for the government of the voyage, implying obligation, or from tending, stretching. So destined implies being bound. Bound is used in composition, as in ice-bound, wind-bound, when a ship is confined or prevented from sailing by ice or by contrary winds.

BOUND, v.i. [Fr. bondir; Arm. boundiçza.]

1. To leap; to jump; to spring; to move forward by leaps. Before his lord the ready spaniel bounds. – Pope.
2. To rebound - but the sense is the same.

BOUND, v.t.

1. To limit; to terminate; to fix the furthest point of extension, whether of natural or moral objects, as of land, or empire, or of passion, desire, indulgence. Hence, to restrain or confine; as, to bound our wishes. To bound in is hardly legitimate.
2. To make to bound. – Shak.

BOUND'A-RY, n.

A limit; a bound. Johnson. This word is thus used as synonymous with bound. But the real sense is, a visible mark designating a limit. Bound is the limit itself or furthest point of extension, and may be an imaginary line; but boundary is the thing which ascertains the limit; terminus, not finis. Thus by a statute of Connecticut, it is enacted, That the inhabitants of every town shall procure its bounds to be set out by such marks and boundaries as may be a plain direction for the future; which marks and boundaries shall he a great heap of stones or a ditch of six feet long, &c. This distinction is observed also in the statute of Massachusetts. But the two words are, in ordinary use, confounded.

BOUND-BAI'LIF, n.

An officer appointed by a sherif to execute process; so denominated from the bond given for the faithful discharge of his trust. – Blackstone.

BOUND'ED, pp.

Limited; confined; restrained.

BOUND'EN, pp.

of Bind. [See Bind, and pp. Bound.]

BOUND'ER, n.

One that limits; a boundary. – Herbert.

BOUND'ING, ppr.

Limiting; confining; restraining; leaping: springing; rebounding; advancing with leaps.

BOUND'ING-STONE, or BOUND'-STONE, n.

A stone to play with. – Dryden.

BOUND'LESS, a.

Unlimited; unconfined; immeasurable; illimitable; as, boundless space; boundless power.

BOUND'LESS-NESS, n.

The quality of being without limits. – South.

BOUN'TE-OUS, a. [See Bounty.]

Liberal in charity; disposed to give freely; generous; munificent; beneficent; free in bestowing gifts; as, bounteous nature. It is used chiefly in poetry for bountiful. – Johnson.

BOUN'TE-OUS-LY, adv.

Liberally; generously; largely; freely.

BOUN'TE-OUS-NESS, n.

Liberality in bestowing gifts or favors; munificence; kindness.

BOUN'TI-FUL, a. [bounty and full.]

Free to give; liberal in bestowing gifts and favors; munificent; generous. God, the bountiful author of our being. – Locke. It is followed by of before the thing given, and to before the person receiving.

BOUN'TI-FUL-LY, adv.

Liberally; largely; in a bountiful manner.