adj. (old: now recognised).—Barren; intractable; niggardly; pedantic; utterly immovable.
1606. The Return from Parnassus, ii., 4 (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 125). Any of the HIDEBOUND brethren of Cambridge and Oxford.
1672. WYCHERLEY, Love in a Wood, i., 2. I am as barren and HIDEBOUND as one of your scribbling poets, who are sots in company for all their wit.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. HIDEBOUND HORSE, whose Skin sticks very close, and tite like a Pudding Bag, usually when very Fat. Ibid., HIDEBOUND MUSE, Stiff, hard of Delivery, Sir J. Suckling call’d Ben Johnson’s so.
1725. A New Canting Dictionary, s.v.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1893. Pall Mall Gazette, 24 Feb. ‘High Time to Get Up.’ The most dragging inertness and the most HIDE-BOUND celerity.
