Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Stubbornly prejudiced, narrow-minded, or inflexible.
  • adjective Having abnormally dry, stiff skin that adheres closely to the underlying flesh. Used of domestic animals such as cattle.
  • adjective Having the bark so contracted and unyielding as to hinder growth. Used of trees.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Bound tightly by the hide, as an animal, or by the bark, as a tree: said of a horse, etc., when, from emaciation or other cause, the hide on its back or ribs cannot be loosened or raised in folds with the fingers; of a tree or a root, when the bark is so close or unyielding as to impede its growth.
  • Hence Obstinately set in opinion or purpose; narrow-minded; bigoted; stubborn; unyielding: as, a hidebound partizan.
  • Shut tightly; closed fast; hence, closefisted; stingy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having the skin adhering so closely to the ribs and back as not to be easily loosened or raised; -- said of an animal.
  • adjective (Hort.) Having the bark so close and constricting that it impedes the growth; -- said of trees.
  • adjective Untractable; bigoted; obstinately and blindly or stupidly conservative.
  • adjective obsolete Niggardly; penurious.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of a book Bound with the hide of an animal.
  • adjective of an animal Having the skin adhering so closely to the ribs and back as not to be easily loosened or raised.
  • adjective of trees Having the bark so close and constricting that it impedes the growth.
  • adjective Stubborn; narrow-minded.
  • adjective Niggardly; penurious.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective stubbornly conservative and narrow-minded

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

hide +‎ bound

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Examples

  • The real point is that words themselves "live" and change and cannot remain hidebound to previously understood meanings alone.

    Balkinization 2007

  • [W] ords themselves 'live' and change and cannot remain hidebound to previously understood meanings alone.

    Balkinization 2007

  • The real point is that words themselves 'live' and change and cannot remain hidebound to previously understood meanings alone.

    Balkinization 2007

  • Their exclusion was an expression hidebound prejudice, rearing its head in the institution which more than all others should be liberal in thought.

    The Social Disability of the Jew 1969

  • Their exclusion was an expression hidebound prejudice, rearing its head in the institution which more than all others should be liberal in thought.

    The Social Disability of the Jew 1908

  • What Democratic lawmakers describe as a hidebound decision by Gov.

    BusinessReport.com stories: RSS Headlines 2009

  • Humankind's salvation is in their solar plexuses and not in their minds and in all that imaginary bullshit our minds accept as hidebound truth "hidebound" meaning some damn silly manmade book that supposedly contains OUR/THEIR god's HOLY WRIT.

    Profiling at Airports The Daily Growler 2006

  • The animal becomes poor in flesh, the coat is rough and lusterless, and the skin tight and harsh, producing a condition termed "hidebound," with considerable "tucking up" of the abdomen.

    Special Report on Diseases of the Horse Charles B. Michener 1877

  • The fibrous bundles of the true skin contain plain, muscular fibers, which are not controlled by the will, but contract under the influence of cold and under certain nervous influences, as in some skin diseases and in the chill of a fever, and lead to contraction, tightening, or corrugation of the skin, contributing to produce the "hidebound" of the horseman.

    Special Report on Diseases of the Horse Charles B. Michener 1877

  • Potatoes fed in a raw state to stock are laxative in their effects, and are often given to horses as a medicine in cases of "hidebound" with decided benefit.

    The $100 Prize Essay on the Cultivation of the Potato. Prize offered by W. T. Wylie and awarded to D. H. Compton. How to Cook the Potato, Furnished by Prof. Blot. D. A. Compton 1846

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