bondage
/ˈbɒndɪdʒ
/noun [mass noun]
1The state of being a slave: the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt’s bondage figurative the bondage of drug addiction...
- He noted that it was significant that after four centuries of bondage the descendants of slaves have become a free and independent people.
- During the nineteenth century, juries as far South as Georgia refused to convict whites who assisted slaves escaping from bondage.
- Furthermore, his 1839 statement reflected a greater concern about the conscience of the slave owner than the physical bondage of the slave.
Synonyms
slavery, enslavement, servitude, subjugation, subjection, oppression, domination, exploitation, persecution;
captivity, imprisonment, incarceration, confinement, detention;
bonds, chains, fetters, shackles, restraints, yoke
literary thraldom, thrall
historical serfdom, vassalage
archaic enthralment, duress
2Sexual practice that involves the tying up or restraining of one partner.
Origin
Middle English: from Anglo-Latin bondagium, from Middle English bond 'serf' (earlier 'peasant, householder'), from Old Norse bóndi 'tiller of the soil', based on búa 'dwell'; influenced in sense by bond.
- the knives are out (for someone)
- the Kop
- the Kremlin
- the Kurils
- the ladies
- the Lakes
- the Lamb of God (also the Lamb)
- the land of Nod
- the land of the free
- the last minute
- the last (or final) straw
- the last straw
- the last word
- the laugh is on me (or you, him, etc.)
- the Law
- (the law of) diminishing returns
- the Law of Moses
- the law of the jungle
- the Left
- the length and breadth of
- the lesser evil (or the lesser of two evils)
- the Lido
- the lie (lay) of the land
- the life and soul of the party (the life of the party)
- the light of day