binder

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English binder,^[2][3] inherited from Old English bindere (“one who binds”),^[4][5][6] an agent noun formed from Old English bindan (“to bind”) + -ere.^[5][4] In modern terms it is bind with the suffix -er.^[7][8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who binds: in an Old English riddle of the Exeter Book, where the speaker says Ic eom bindere and swingere, "I am a binder and a scourger".^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English a binder was a bookbinder or other craftsman, and also one who tied up his victims, a robber.^[2] The specific sense of a bookbinder is recorded in English from 1556, and one who binds sheaves behind the reapers from about 1611, in Chapman's Iliad.^[7][9] Etymonline dates uses for things that bind to the early 16th century;^[4] the Shorter Oxford records an obsolete sense, a food that causes constipation (early 16th to late 17th century).^[8] Later came a band or bandage (1695), a tie-beam or bondstone (17th century), a cementing substance (late 17th century), a machine that binds grain into sheaves (mid-19th century) and a cover for loose papers (mid-19th century).^[7][8] In dialect and New Zealand slang a binder is a large, filling meal,^[8][10][11] and in RAF slang of the 1920s a bore.^[12]

Timeline

• before 1000 – one who binds.^[7][5]
• 1556 – a bookbinder.^[7]
• c. 1611 – one who binds sheaves.^[7]
• 1695 – a band or bandage.^[7]
• late 17th century – a cementing substance.^[8]
• mid 19th century – a reaping and binding machine; a cover for loose papers.^[8]
• late 19th century – a large meal (dialect and New Zealand).^[8]
• 1922 – slang, a bore.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stiff cover or folder with rings or clips for holding loose sheets of paper: She keeps her lecture notes in a blue binder.^[11][3][13]
2. A substance, such as tar or cement, that holds loose particles together.^[11][13][8]
3. A person who binds, especially a bookbinder.^[11][3][7]
4. Something used for tying, such as a band or cord.^[11][3][7]
5. A broad bandage wrapped around the chest or abdomen for support.^[3][7]
6. A machine that cuts grain and binds it into sheaves; a reaper-binder.^[11][8]
7. A connecting piece, such as a tie-beam or a stone running through a wall.^[7][8]
8. (New Zealand informal, dialect) A large, filling meal.^[11][8][10]

Word family

• spellbinder
• self-binder
• ring binder

Related words

• bind
• bindery
• bookbinder
• bond
• band

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster