Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The state of one who is bound as a slave or serf.
  • noun A state of subjection to a force, power, or influence.
  • noun The practice of being physically restrained, as with cords or handcuffs, as a means of attaining sexual gratification.
  • noun Villeinage.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To reduce to bondage or slavery; enslave.
  • noun In old English law, villeinage; tenure of land by performing the meanest services for a superior.
  • noun In Scot. agri., the state of, or services due by, a bondager. See bondager.
  • noun [From the foregoing extract it will be seen that formerly the system had place not only, as now, between farmer and laborer, but also between proprietor and farmer.]
  • noun Obligation; tie of duty; binding power or influence.
  • noun Slavery or involuntary servitude; serfdom.
  • noun Captivity; imprisonment; restraint of a person's liberty by compulsion.
  • noun Figuratively, subjection to some power or influence: as, he is in bondage to his appetites.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state of being bound; condition of being under restraint; restraint of personal liberty by compulsion; involuntary servitude; slavery; captivity.
  • noun Obligation; tie of duty.
  • noun (Old Eng. Law) Villenage; tenure of land on condition of doing the meanest services for the owner.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state of being enslaved or the practice of slavery.
  • noun by extension The state of lacking freedom; constraint.
  • noun The practice of tying people up for sexual pleasure.
  • noun attributive Applied to clothing with many buckles, zips, etc., associated with punk and goth subcultures.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the state of being under the control of another person
  • noun the state of being under the control of a force or influence or abstract power
  • noun sexual practice that involves physically restraining (by cords or handcuffs) one of the partners

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, from Middle English bonde, serf, from Old English bōnda, husbandman, from Old Norse bōndi, present participle of būa, to live; see bheuə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English bondage ("serfdom"), from Medieval Latin (Anglo-Latin) bondagium ("an inferior tenure held by a bond or husbandman"), from Middle English bond ("a tenant farmer, serf"), from Old English bonda ("a householder, husband, head of a family"), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse bōndi, bōandi ("free-born farmer, husband", literally "dweller"), from bōa, būa ("to dwell"), from Proto-Germanic *būanan (“to dwell, wone”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhōw- (“to dwell”). Cognate with Icelandic and Faroese bóndi ("farmer"), Danish bo ("to dwell, wone"), German bauen ("to build"), Dutch boer ("boor, farmer"), English bower. See also neighbour, booth, build.

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Examples

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  • Egad! No bondage!

    October 18, 2008

  • Government issue of bonds

    January 8, 2009