bond

1 noun (C)

1 MONEY an official document promising that a government or company will pay back money that it has borrowed, often with interest 1 (4): My father put all his money into Canadian Northern Railway bonds. | furious trading on the bond market

2 UNITE something that unites two or more people or groups, such as love, or a shared interest or idea

(+ between): the natural bond between mother and child (+ of): The two countries are linked by bonds of friendship going back many years. (+ with): He felt a strong bond with his audience.

3 bonds (plural) literary

a) something that limits your freedom and prevents you from doing what you want

(+ of): the bonds of slavery

b) literary chains, ropes etc used for tying up a prisoner: The prisoners will be freed from their bonds.

4 GLUE the way in which two surfaces become fixed to each other using glue

5 CHEMISTRY technical the chemical force that holds atoms together: In each methane molecule there are four CH bonds.

6 a written agreement to do something, that makes you legally responsible for doing it

7 my word is my bond formal used to say that you will definitely do what you have promised

8 in/out of bond technical in or out of a bonded warehouse

2 verb

1 (I) if two things bond with each other, they become firmly fixed together, especially after they have been joined with glue: It takes less than 10 minutes for the two surfaces to bond.

2 (I) to develop a special relationship with someone: the tendency to bond with others of the same sex

3 (T) technical to keep goods in a bonded warehouse