Bondage \Bond"age\, n. [LL. bondagium. See Bond, a.]

1. The state of being bound; condition of being under restraint; restraint of personal liberty by compulsion; involuntary servitude; slavery; captivity.

The King, when he designed you for my guard, Resolved he would not make my bondage hard. --Dryden.

2. Obligation; tie of duty.

He must resolve by no means to be . . . brought under the bondage of onserving oaths. --South.

3. (Old Eng. Law) Villenage; tenure of land on condition of doing the meanest services for the owner.

Syn: Thralldom; bond service; imprisonment.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)