"obstructed by ice; frozen in; surrounded or hemmed in by ice, so as to prevent progress or approach," 1650s, from ice (n.) + bound (adj.1).
Entries linking to ice-bound
ice n.
Old English is "ice, piece of ice" (also the name of the Anglo-Saxon rune for -i-), from Proto-Germanic *is- "ice" (source also of Old Norse iss, Old Frisian is, Dutch ijs, German Eis), of uncertain origin; possible relatives are Avestan aexa- "frost, ice," isu- "frosty, icy;" Afghan asai "frost." Slang meaning "diamonds" is attested from 1906.
Modern spelling begins to appear 15c. and makes the word look French. On ice "kept out of the way until wanted" is from 1890. Thin ice in the figurative sense is from 1884. To break the ice "to make the first opening to any attempt" is from 1580s, metaphoric of making passages for boats by breaking up river ice though in modern use it usually has implications of "cold reserve." Ice-fishing is from 1869; ice-scraper is from 1789 in cookery.
bound adj.1
"fastened;" mid-14c. in a figurative sense of "compelled," earlier in the fuller form bounden (c. 1300), past-participle adjective from bind (v.). The meaning "under obligation" is from late 15c.; the literal sense of "made fast by tying (with fetters, chains, etc.)" is by 1550s.
In philology, designating a grammatical element which occurs only in combination with others (opposed to free), from 1926. Smyth has man-bound (1867), of a ship, "detained in port for want of a proper complement of men."