Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th 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.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. The state of being enslaved or the practice of slavery.
- n. The state of lacking freedom; constraint.
- n. The practice of tying people up for sexual pleasure.
- n. Applied to clothing with many buckles, zips, etc., associated with punk and goth subcultures.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- 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. Villenage; tenure of land on condition of doing the meanest services for the owner.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To reduce to bondage or slavery; enslave.
- 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.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- 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
Examples
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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_.'
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“Mu’attik al-Rikáb” i.e. who frees those in bondage from the yoke.
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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.
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"These clever Egyptian fetters we contingency break/Or remove myself in bondage," says Antony, reprogrammed for a impulse as a responsible Roman.
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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
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Edward begins his journey by leaving “a house on Egypt Street” where he is in bondage to his inability to love.
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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.
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These folks seek to keep people in bondage through stupidity and the destruction of education.
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It is because of people like him we as a people were kept in bondage for so long. katiec
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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.
Ryan Mack: Man vs. Message: What We Can Learn from the Eddie Long Story
trevorbutterworth commented on the word bondage
Government issue of bonds
January 8, 2009
bilby commented on the word bondage
Egad! No bondage!
October 18, 2008