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Webster 1913 Edition

Bondage

Bond′age

(-ā̍j)
,
Noun.
[LL.
bondagium
. See
Bond
,
Adj.
]
1.
The state of being bound; condition of being under restraint; restraint of personal liberty by compulsion; involuntary servitude; slavery; captivity.
The King, when he designed you for my guard,
Resolved he would not make my
bondage
hard.
Dryden.
2.
Obligation; tie of duty.
He must resolve by no means to be . . . brought under the
bondage
of observing oaths.
South.
3.
(Old Eng. Law)
Villenage; tenure of land on condition of doing the meanest services for the owner.
Syn. – Thralldom; bond service; imprisonment.

Webster 1828 Edition

Bondage

BOND'AGE

,
Noun.
Slavery or involuntary servitude; captivity; imprisonment; restraint of a person's liberty by compulsion. In ancient English law, villenage.
1.
Obligation; tie of duty.
He must resolve not to be brought under the bondage of observing oaths.
2.
In scripture, spiritual subjection to sin and corrupt passions, or to the yoke of the ceremonial law; servile fear. Heb.2. Gal.2. Rom.8.

Definition 2024

bondage

bondage

English

Noun

bondage ‎(countable and uncountable, plural bondages)

  1. The state of being enslaved or the practice of slavery.
    In Judeo-Christian tradition, the Israelites fled bondage at the hands of the Egyptians, only to wander in the wilderness for the next four decades.
    • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
      "She was the Wicked Witch of the East, as I said," answered the little woman. "She has held all the Munchkins in bondage for many years, making them slave for her night and day. Now they are all set free, and are grateful to you for the favor."
  2. (by extension) The state of lacking freedom; constraint.
    He lived in financial bondage to his cocaine habit; no matter how much he earned, it all seemed to disappear up his nose.
  3. The practice of tying people up for sexual pleasure.
    Their marriage broke up when she discovered he had been engaging in bondage games with a local dominatrix while he was supposedly working out at the gym.
  4. (attributive) Applied to clothing with many buckles, zips, etc., associated with punk and goth subcultures.
    bondage trousers; bondage jeans; bondage pants

Derived terms

Antonyms

Translations

See also

External links

  • bondage in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • bondage in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • “subjection” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.

Anagrams

Spanish

Noun

bondage m ‎(plural bondages)

  1. bondage (sexual practice)

Etymology

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 *būaną ‎(“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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