Bondage, n.
Etymology: [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.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Thralldom; bond service; imprisonment.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for bondage; he lists it under fetter.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.