self-bindingadj.
/ˌsɛlfˈbʌɪndɪŋ/, U.S. /ˌsɛlfˈbaɪndɪŋ/ 1. Of a declaration, commitment, etc.: that imposes constraints or obligations on the person or group that made it.rare before the 19th cent.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > [adjective]
fastOE
faithfula1500
obligatory1502
obligatoriousa1555
astrictivea1575
bounded1586
debt-bound1588
obliged1594
obligative1596
Stygian1608
obligator1609
binding1611
imperative1621
obligant1624
ligatory1625
obliging1638
obstrictive1642
boundant1649
self-binding1685
hard1935
1685 R. Baxter Paraphr. New Test. sig. Hhh4 Many unjustly commend absolute Vows of Celibate..[and] make Snares and self-binding Laws for themselves, as if they were their own Rulers.
1841 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 27 May What, we repeat, was that self-binding declaration of our State?
1956 Amer. Econ. Rev. 46 299 It is not always easy to make a convincing, self-binding, promise.
2003 C. Lipson Reliable Partners iii. 56 Democracies have a superior capacity to exchange enduring, self-binding commitments.
2. Of a reaping machine: that binds the crop into sheaves automatically. Cf. self-binder n. 2. Now historical.
ΚΠ
1878 C. H. McCormick Let. 23 May in W. T. Hutchinson Cyrus Hall McCormick: Harvest 1856–1884 (1935) xvi. 733 The leading plans of the self binding part of these machines were invented by others, while they have been brought to the present state of practical utility..in my works.
1883 Sci. Amer. 3 Mar. 138/3 A self-binding harvester.
1943 Irish Times 9 July 3/7 A new order to-day prohibits the use of new binder twine for any purpose except in self-binding reaping machine..or in tying flax.
2004 J. Shrock Gilded Age 7 The wheat industry was propelled to new heights of production by the self-binding reaper, header, steam-powered threshers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1685