bondage

nounattested in dialogue

United Kingdom//ˈbɒn.dɪd͡ʒ//
United States//ˈbɑn.dɪd͡ʒ//
//ˈbɔn.dɪdʒ//

The state of being enslaved or the practice of slavery.

noun

1
The state of being enslaved or the practice of slavery.
debt bondage
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.
"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
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 physically restraining people for sexual pleasure, such as by tying up or shackling.
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
Applied to clothing with many buckles, zips, etc., associated with punk and goth subcultures.
bondage trousers; bondage jeans; bondage pants

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English bondage (“serfdom”), from British Medieval Latin bondagium (“an inferior tenure held by a bond or husbandman”), from Middle English bond (“tenant farmer, serf”), from Old English bonda (“householder, husband, head of a family”), of Old Norse origin. Sense development influenced by the unrelated terms bond and bind.

Forms

plural: bondages

Bonaparte · A Corsican surname, most notably borne by Napoleon Bonaparte…bond · A document constituting evidence of a long-term debt, by…Bond · A surname originating as an occupation.

bondage · The state of being enslaved or the practice of slavery.

bonded · Secured by bond.bonding · The act by which something is bonded or joined together.bonds · imprisonment, captivity

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.