Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BIND'ING, n.

1. The act of fastening with a band, or obliging; a bandage; the cover of a book, with the sewing and accompanying work; any thing that binds; something that secures the edge of cloth.
2. In the art of defense, a method of securing or crossing the adversary's sword with a pressure, accompanied with a spring of the wrist. – Encyc. Binding-joists, in architecture, are the joists of a floor into which the trimmers of staircases, or well-holes of the stairs and chimney-ways, are framed. – Encyc.