[ad. Fr. bondir, which signified only to ‘resound’ till the 15th c., when the meaning of to ‘rebound, spring’ first appears, perh. f. L. bombitāre to hum, f. bombus a humming noise. (With the earlier Fr. sense cf. quot. 1601 in 1.)]
† 1. To recoil, rebound. Obs.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., I. ii. 58. Ibid. (1601), All’s Well, II. iii. 314. Why these bals bound, ther’s noise in it.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Assurance, vii. Thou hast cast a bone Which bounds on thee, and will not down thy throat.
2. intr. To spring upwards, leap; to advance with leaps or springs: said both of inanimate and animate objects. Also fig.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 265. He leaps, he neighs, he bounds. Ibid. (1599), Hen. V., III. vii. 13. He bounds from the Earth, as if his entrayles were hayres.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. I. 431. And yet so fiery he would bound, As if he grieved to touch the Ground.
1711. Pope, Temp. Fame, 333. Thro’ the big dome the doubling thunder bounds.
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 167, ¶ 6. Our hearts bound at the presence of each other.
1798. Wordsw., Tintern Abbey, 69. Like a roe I bounded o’er the mountains.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. ii. The waves bound beneath me as a steed That knows his rider.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, VI. vii. 290. She would … bound forward.
† 3. trans. To make (a horse) leap. Obs.
1586. Warner, Alb. Eng., VIII. xxxviii. 190. Whether that he trots, or turnes, or bounds his barded Steede.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., V. ii. 146. If I might buffet for my Loue, or bound my Horse for her fauours.
