inbound

Etymology

It is formed from English in (“inward”) + bound (“heading for a place”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} like its opposite outbound.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homeward bound, of ships: 1857.^[3] The OED's first record, of 1894 in the magazine Outing, has the general sense "bound inward or homeward",^[2][8] and Merriam-Webster also dates the word to 1894.^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the word was first used of ships.^[3] It was later applied to traffic, passengers and goods heading into a place, and to things relating to such traffic, as in an inbound station.^[5][9] In basketball, the verb means to put the ball back into play from out of bounds.^[10][1]

Timeline

• 1857 – homeward bound, of ships.^[3]
• 1894 – bound inward or homeward, in general.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Travelling inward, toward a place or toward home; incoming: The inbound bus was twenty minutes late.^{[11][5][10][9][2]}
2. Relating to incoming traffic.^[5]

Verb

1. (basketball) To put the ball into play by passing it from out of bounds to a teammate.^[10][1]

Word family

• inbounds

Related words

• outbound
• bound
• inward

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster contrasts it with outbound.^[5] The OED also records a separate adjective of the same spelling (1953), used of a leaf or gathering in a manuscript or book that is bound within it, from inbind,^[2] and an obsolete verb (1600–1652), to enclose as a boundary, formed with the prefix in-.^[2][8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins