Dictionary entry

Bondage

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Bond″age (–ā̍j), n. [LL. bondagium. See Bond, a.] 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.