Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The state of one who is bound as a slave or serf.
- n. A state of subjection to a force, power, or influence.
- n. The practice of being physically restrained, as with cords or handcuffs, as a means of attaining sexual gratification.
- n. Villeinage.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In old English law, villeinage; tenure of land by performing the meanest services for a superior.
- n. In Scot. agri., the state of, or services due by, a bondager. See bondager.
- n. [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.]
- n. Obligation; tie of duty; binding power or influence.
- n. Slavery or involuntary servitude; serfdom.
- n. Captivity; imprisonment; restraint of a person's liberty by compulsion.
- n. Figuratively, subjection to some power or influence: as, he is in bondage to his appetites. Synonyms Slavery, etc. (see
servitude ), thraldom, serfdom. - To reduce to bondage or slavery; enslave.
Wiktionary
- n. The state of being enslaved or the practice of slavery.
- n. by extension The state of lacking freedom; constraint.
- n. The practice of tying people up for sexual pleasure.
- n. attributive Applied to clothing with many buckles, zips, etc., associated with punk and goth subcultures.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The state of being bound; condition of being under restraint; restraint of personal liberty by compulsion; involuntary servitude; slavery; captivity.
- n. Obligation; tie of duty.
- n. (Old Eng. Law) Villenage; tenure of land on condition of doing the meanest services for the owner.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the state of being under the control of another person
- n. the state of being under the control of a force or influence or abstract power
- n. sexual practice that involves physically restraining (by cords or handcuffs) one of the partners
Etymologies
- 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. (Wiktionary)
- 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. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Does this falsify the declarations of Scripture, that 'they sighed by reason of their bondage,' and that the Egyptians 'made them serve _with rigor_,' and made 'their lives bitter with _hard bondage_.”
““Mu’attik al-Rikáb” i.e. who frees those in bondage from the yoke.”
“This was an entirely new punishment for people who, when they were in a state of what was called bondage, thought nothing was shameful or “illegitimate” about unmarried parents.”
“These clever Egyptian fetters we contingency break/Or remove myself in bondage," says Antony, reprogrammed for a impulse as a responsible Roman.”
“They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?”
Libertarian Principles, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“Edward begins his journey by leaving “a house on Egypt Street” where he is in bondage to his inability to love.”
“In fact, of course, the contributions made by all those productive, creative folks of the past were not made with the provision that members of far off future generations will be held in bondage to them somehow, in consequence.”
“These folks seek to keep people in bondage through stupidity and the destruction of education.”
“It is because of people like him we as a people were kept in bondage for so long. katiec”
“He was the elderly gentleman who was chosen by God to lead the Exodus of the Hebrew people out of bondage from the Egyptians to freedom.”
The Huffington Post: Ryan Mack: Man vs. Message: What We Can Learn from the Eddie Long Story
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bondage’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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The -ages of Man(-age)
Trivet also has this list, which you should go see. And then I found this list, and this list...
manage, salvage, selvadge, savage, voyage, umbrage, entourage, homage, carriage, marriage, language, potage and 123 more...
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Public List: Free Association
Read the top word on the list and add a word that you associate with it. The association may be semantic, etymological, structural, literary, personal, etc.
Rules:
1. In t...mounch, mensch, trench, war, harmony, guitar, cigar, bubblegum, baseball cards, shortstop, bear, chained and 72 more...
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TrevorButterworth's list
Econorrhea
econorrhea, creditastrophe, fiscapocalypse, ponzipaloosa!, dollardrums (to b..., the babyboombust, the greenspinout, defaultalot, depressimism, the unmortgaging, bankholing, derivilification and 28 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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zzyyxx's Words
plethora, drout, functional, rye, wring, doubt, cognative, weird, gnaw, surcease, rend, languish and 438 more...
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Hiroe's Words
facetious, bardic, twatwaffle, cattywampus, splendiferous, zomg, merf, fwaa, fnord, tortify, schwiz, blort and 225 more...
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Terminos Sexuales
Toda la terminologia basada en las busquedas sexuales de los usuarios webs.
Lips, Chubby, Rim, anal, bondage, nasty, Busty, Breast, Facial, Cum
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the physical experience
wank, snog, tendon, sinew, sauce shelf, pet, arse, astigmatism, bisexual, brassiere, breast, climax and 186 more...
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not the sum of their parts
words formed as the combination of two or more other words, but which have a meaning unrelated to either of the constituent words
earwig, ladyfinger, pantywaist, dovetail, eavesdropper, blackmail, greenhorn, mango, carpet, penny farthing, farthingale, damage and 118 more...
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lucidityprevails's Words
lucidity, journalistic, truthiness, foolhardy, egotism, lesbian, orgasmic, activism, moonglow, voodoo, conquer, demolish and 534 more...
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EROTICA
thrust, cock, sweat, erotic, porn, penetrate, lust, force, rape, hard, cum, climax and 73 more...
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Sex
Words pertaining to sex.
homoerotic, autoerotic, sadism, masochism, sadomasochism, lesbian, gay, queer, orgasmic, orgasm, fornicate, fornication and 16 more...
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new words
words iv just learned or seen
ifrigment, unision, choisest, affability, astralagi, etamine, absence, anesthesiologist, alembic, cannibal, impacted, abscess and 19 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bondage.

trevorbutterworth Government issue of bonds Jan 8, 2009
bilby Egad! No bondage! Oct 18, 2008