Open the box in which his large hidebound book is kept. The faint smell of manure, over 150 years old, still rises from thick yellowing pages, and you begin to live his life.
disapproval If you describe someone or something as hidebound, you are criticizing them for having old-fashioned ideas or ways of doing things and being unwilling or unlikely to change. The men are hidebound and reactionary The economy was hidebound by public spending and private monopolies. having old-fashioned attitudes and ideas - used to show disapproval