heartboundadj.
/ˈhɑːtˌbaʊnd/, U.S. /ˈhɑrtˌbaʊnd/ 1. Having the heart entirely devoted (to a person or thing); emotionally in thrall to. Now archaic and poetic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > attention > earnest attention, concentration > [adjective]
intentivec1386
intendable1390
studiousa1400
diligentc1400
intendantc1440
suspensec1450
attent1482
heartbounda1586
searchful1594
intent1610
wist1615
wistful1616
intense1640
imminent1641
concentrative1725
well-attending1725
acuminated1786
spell-bound1799
the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [adjective] > intimate or familiar > (of people) wholly devoted, intimate, or unreserved
entirec1420
heartbounda1586
entired1635
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) i. sig. H6 Hir, who both them did possesse As heart-bound slaues.
1618 T. Gainsford True Hist. P. Warbeck 68 Because she should not thinke him barren of education, nor heart bound to his ambitious designs.
1653 F. G. tr. ‘G. de Scudéry’ Artamenes I. ii. 62 He was so heart-bound, and tied by the eyes unto the beauty of Mandana.
1835 T. C. Grattan Agnes de Mansfeldt II. iv. 125 Two beings, heart-bound to each other, but to whom fate refused an union here on earth.
1882 J. Nichol Amer. Lit. xi. 392 She shrieks aloud over the dead body of the thoroughly bad fellow to whom she is heartbound.
1917 A. Allinson tr. A. France Human Trag. xi. 88 If we have not the good fortune to be poor in very deed, let us not make ourselves rich men in spirit, and heartbound to the things of this world.
1940 Idaho (Twin Falls) Evening Times 29 Feb. 7/7 Tired and bent he is, hand-bound to sod... This tiller of the soil, heart-bound to God.
2011 J. Frank Adam ii. 39 He fancied himself hopelessly heartbound to the Lycanthrope, connected to her in some mystical, spiritual way.
2. Originally: pitiless, hard-hearted. Later more generally: having the heart closed off from sympathy, uncaring. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > compassion > pitilessness > [adjective]
ruthlessc1330
unpiteousa1393
pitilessa1450
unpitifulc1449
unbowelled1592
unpitying1597
brassy1600
tearless1603
incompassionate1611
heartbound1614
uncompassionatea1616
illachrymable1623
compassionless1625
bowelless1649
incomplexionate1660
uncompassionatinga1711
dispiteous1803
pulseless1820
inhumane1822
impiteous1877
1614 T. Adams Diuells Banket i. 24 The most laxatiue prodigals, that are lauish..to their lusts, are yet heart-bound to the poore.
1673 J. Flavell Fountain of Life xlii. 622 Being left to the hardness and vanity of their own hearts..they lie wind-bound, heart-bound, and can do nothing Spiritually in a way of Duty.
1837 Western Academician May 119 Your original character, your original writer, has no sympathies; he is heart-bound, brain-bound, and lip-bound.
1973 Morning Herald (Hagerstown, Maryland) 5 July 4/4 She was a good person... She may have been ‘housebound’, but she was never ‘heartbound’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.a1586