spec. The tie or bond of wedlock; the marriage or wedding knot.

A moral or spiritual bond or restraint; the bands or bonds of matrimony. = band, n.1 9.

General attributive, chiefly with reference to items used in a marriage ceremony, as spousing band, spousing gown, spousing ring, etc. historical in…

a binding obligation or injunction; spec. the bond of marriage.

the state or bond of matrimony, regarded as a trap or snare (see noose, n. 2a).

figurative. Something which snares, restrains, or binds; spec. marriage.

figurative the matrimonial bond; = marriage knot n. at marriage, n. compounds 1a.

a necklace, etc., worn as a token of marriage; (allusively) the state of matrimony, esp. regarded as something imprisoning (cf. marriage noose n.).

the shackles: the bonds of matrimony.

(a) figurative the bond of matrimony; (b) Nautical a tie for uniting the looped ends of two ropes (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. 1875).