Binder

[f. BIND v. + -ER¹.]

  I.  Of persons.

  1.  gen. One who binds. (See senses of the verb.)

a. 1000.  Riddles (Gr.), xxviii. 6. Ic eom bindere and swingere.

c. 1300.  Havelok, 2050. Bynderes loue ich neuere mo.

c. 1450.  Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 688. Hic ligator, a bynder.

1651.  Hobbes, Govt. & Soc., viii. § 4. 129. The binder supposes him that is bound not to be sufficiently tyed by any other obligation.

1846.  Trench, Huls. Lect., Ser. II. vi. 235. The true binder up of the bleeding hurts of humanity.

  2.  spec. a. A bookbinder.

1556.  Chart. Stationers’ Comp., in Entick, London (1766), IV. 227. Any … printer, binder or seller of any manner of books.

1705.  Hearne, Diary (1885), I. 57. This was discovered by the binder.

1862.  Burton, Bk.-hunter, I. 26. There are binders who have immortalized themselves.

  b.  One who binds sheaves behind the reapers.

c. 1611.  Chapman, Iliad, XVIII. 504 (J.). Three binders stood, and took the handfuls reap’d From boys that gather’d quickly up.

1799.  J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 159. One man follows the two binders, to stook the corn.

1870.  Bryant, Iliad, XVIII. II. 226. Binders tied them fast With bands, and made them sheaves.

  c.  ‘One who undertakes to keep a mine open.’ Weale, Dict. Terms, 1849.

  II.  Of things.

  3.  Anything used to bind; a band, bandage, etc.; in Med., a piece of calico or a special apparatus used in obstetric surgery.

1695.  Motteux, St. Olon’s Morocco, 94. Nothing on their Heads but a single Veil or Binder.

1787.  Mrs. Trimmer, Œcon. Charity, 79. Plain linen caps, with binders herring-boned with coloured cruel.

1861.  Year-bk. Med. & Surg., 359. The use of the obstetric binder.

1868.  Daily News, 3 Sept., 2/2. After the binder and wimple were placed on the head [of a nun], the white veil was solemnly blessed and incensed, and then placed over her head.

1885.  Cheshire Gloss. (E. D. S.), Binders, narrow strips of thick hempen cloth … put round cheeses … to prevent them bulging.

  b.  fig. (Cf. 4.)

1621–31.  Laud, Sev. Serm. (1847), 99. Justice and judgment is the greatest binder up of a State.

1627.  Bp. Hall, Medit. & Vows, ii. 29. Performance is a binder.

1643.  Caryl, Sacr. Covt., 5. A Covenant is a binder of affection.

  4.  A connecting piece that holds the several parts of any structure together; as, a. A long pliant with or branch used in fencing, etc. (cf. BIND v. 12); b. Carpentry. A tie-beam or binding joint: c. A principal part of a ship’s frame, such as keel, transom, beam, etc.; d. A long stone that passes quite through a wall, and gives support to the smaller stones, a ‘bond’ stone.

1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. xxii. 212. Though batchelours be the strongest stakes, married men are the best binders in the hedge of the Commonwealth.

1666.  J. Smith, Old Age (ed. 2), 207. I compare … the Sinews or Nerves to the binders of the hedge; which fasten and unite all the other parts.

1842.  Gwilt, Archit. (1876), 601. By the 14th century the system of girders, binders, and joists was perfected.

1845.  Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, II. 122. It makes an admirable binder of the moveable sands.

  5.  In various technical applications:

  a.  A band of straw, etc., for binding sheaves of corn; b. A contrivance attached to a reaping-machine to bind up the grain as cut into sheaves; c. An appliance attached to a sewing-machine for putting binding on cloth; d. Weaving. A lever fixed in the shuttle-box to arrest the shuttle and prevent its recoil; e. A detachable cover or binding for unbound magazines, music, papers, etc.

1865.  Morn. Star, 30 May. A policeman produced a steel binder belonging to a sewing machine.

  † 6.  Med. Anything that produces astriction or constipation of the bowels. Obs.

1528.  Paynell, Salerne Regim., N iv. Hit scoureth away the dropsye … neuer the lesse it is a bynder.

1621.  Burton, Anat. Mel., II. iv. I. i. (1651), 364. They would prescribe … binders for purgatives.

1678.  Salmon, New Lond. Disp., I. vi. (1702), 140/1. Where binders and strengthners are used.

  † 7.  Anything that causes bodies to adhere or stick together; a cement Obs.

1678.  Salmon, New Lond. Disp., III. xii. (1702), 416/2. The Bone-Binder … speedily glews broken Bones together.

1727–51.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Elements, The elements of metals … and sulphur as the binder, or cement.

  8.  Comb., as binder’s-board, hard smooth pasteboard used in bookbinding.