bondage
slavery or involuntary servitude; serfdom.
the state of being bound by or subjected to some external power or control.
the state or practice of being physically restrained, as by being tied up, chained, or put in handcuffs, for sexual gratification.
Early English Law. personal subjection to the control of a superior; villeinage.
Origin of bondage
1synonym study For bondage
word story For bondage
The element bond- comes from the Middle English noun bond(e) “tenant farmer (as opposed to a freeholder),” which developed from Old English bonda “husband, householder, head of a family,” a borrowing from Old Norse bōndi, from older boandi “freeborn farmer,” a noun use of the present participle of the verb būa, bōa “to live; make ready, prepare.” The suffix -age comes partly from Anglo-French and Old French -age, from the Medieval Latin noun suffix -āgium, from Latin -āticum.
The sense “the state or practice of being physically restrained for sexual gratification” first appeared in the 1960s.
Other words for bondage
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for bondage
/ (ˈbɒndɪdʒ) /
slavery or serfdom; servitude
Also called: villeinage (in medieval Europe) the condition and status of unfree peasants who provided labour and other services for their lord in return for holdings of land
a sexual practice in which one partner is physically bound
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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