hidebound

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hide·bound / ˈhīdˌbound/ • adj. unwilling or unable to change because of tradition or convention: you are hidebound by your petty laws. ∎  (of cattle) with their skin clinging close to their back and ribs as a result of bad feeding. ∎  (of a tree) having the bark so tightly adherent as to impede growth. ORIGIN: mid 16th cent. (as a noun denoting a condition of cattle): from hide2 + bound4 . The earliest sense of the adjective (of cattle) was extended to emaciated human beings, and then applied figuratively in the sense ‘narrow, cramped, or bigoted in outlook.’

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