The act or process of one who, or that which, binds. [1913 Webster]
Anything that binds; a bandage; the cover of a book, or the cover with the sewing, etc.; something that secures the edge of cloth from raveling. [1913 Webster]
The transoms, knees, beams, keelson, and other chief timbers used for connecting and strengthening the parts of a vessel. [1913 Webster]

top

OXFORD DICTIONARY

binding, n. & adj.
--n. something that binds, esp. the covers, glue, etc., of a book.
--adj. (often foll. by on) obligatory.

top

THESAURUS

binding

Smyth sewing, absolute, adhesive, affixation, annexation, attachment, authoritative, backing, bandage, bandaging, beading, bibliopegy, binder, binder board, bond, book cloth, book cover, book jacket, bookbinding, bookcase, bordering, bordure, canonical, case, casemaking, casing-in, clasping, cogent, collating, collating mark, combinative, communicating, compulsory, conclusive, conjunctive, connecting, connectional, connective, consistent, copulative, cover, de rigueur, decisive, decretory, dictated, didactic, dust cover, dust jacket, edging, entailed, envelope, envelopment, fastener, fastening, fimbria, fimbriation, final, flounce, folding, footband, formulary, frill, frilling, fringe, furbelow, galloon, gathering, gift wrapping, girding, gluing-off, good, hard and fast, hard binding, hard-and-fast, headband, hem, hooking, imperative, imperious, imposed, inevitable, instructive, intercommunicating, involuntary, irrevocable, jacket, joining, just, knot, lashing, lawful, legal, legitimate, library binding, ligation, lining, lining-up, linking, list, logical, mandated, mandatory, mechanical binding, meeting, motif, must, necessary, niggerhead, obligatory, official, peremptory, perfect binding, plastic binding, preceptive, prescribed, prescript, prescriptive, regulation, required, rounding, rubric, ruffle, saddle stitching, self-consistent, selvage, sewing, side sewing, signature, skirting, slipcase, slipcover, smashing, soft binding, solid, sound, spiral binding, splice, stamping, standard, stapling, statutory, sticking, substantial, sufficient, tailband, tieing, tipping, trimming, ultimate, valance, valid, weighty, well-founded, well-grounded, welt, wire stitching, without appeal, wrap, wrapper, wrapping, zipping

top

ROGET THESAURUS

binding

Book

N booklet, writing, work, volume, tome, opuscule, tract, tractate, livret, brochure, libretto, handbook, codex, manual, pamphlet, enchiridion, circular, publication, chap book, part, issue, number livraison, album, portfolio, periodical, serial, magazine, ephemeris, annual, journal, paper, bill, sheet, broadsheet, leaf, leaflet, fly leaf, page, quire, ream, chapter, section, head, article, paragraph, passage, clause, endpapers, frontispiece, cover, binding, folio, quarto, octavo, duodecimo, sextodecimo, octodecimo, encyclopedia, encompilation, library, bibliotheca, press, definitive work, treatise, comprehensive treatise (dissertation), writer, author, litterateur, essayist, journalism, pen, scribbler, the scribbling race, literary hack, Grub-street writer, writer for the press, gentleman of the press, representative of the press, adjective jerker, diaskeaust, ghost, hack writer, ink slinger, publicist, reporter, penny a liner, editor, subeditor, playwright, poet, bookseller, publisher, bibliopole, bibliopolist, librarian, bookstore, bookshop, bookseller's shop, knowledge of books, bibliography, book learning, among the giant fossils of my past, craignez tout d'un auteur en courroux, for authors nobler palms remain, I lived to write and wrote to live, look in thy heart and write, there is no Past so long as Books shall live, the public mind is the creation of the Master-Writ, volumes that I prize above my dukedom.

Duty

N duty, what ought to be done, moral obligation, accountableness, liability, onus, responsibility, bounden duty, imperative duty, call, call of duty, accountability, allegiance, fealty, tie engagement, part, function, calling, morality, morals, decalogue, case of conscience, conscientiousness, conscience, inward monitor, still small voice within, sense of duty, tender conscience, superego, the hell within, dueness, propriety, fitness, seemliness, amenability, decorum, to prepon, the thing, the proper thing, the right thing to do, the proper thing to do, ethics, ethology, deontology, aretology, moral philosophy, ethical philosophy, casuistry, polity, observance, fulfillment, discharge, performance, acquittal, satisfaction, redemption, good behavior, obligatory, binding, imperative, peremptory, stringent, behooving, incumbent on, chargeable on, under obligation, obliged by, bound by, tied by, saddled with, due to, beholden to, bound to, indebted to, tied down, compromised, in duty bound, amenable, liable, accountable, responsible, answerable, right, meet, moral, ethical, casuistical, conscientious, ethological, with a safe conscience, as in duty, bound, on one's own responsibility, at one's own risk, suo periculo, in foro conscientiae, quamdiu se bene gesserit, dura lex sed lex, dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, honos habet onus, leve fit quod bene fertur onus, loyaute m'oblige, simple duty bath no place for fear, stern daughter of the voice of God, there is a higher law than the Constitution.

For further exploring for "binding" in Webster Dictionary Online