bondswoman

She pledges bail

A bondswoman is a woman held in bondage—either a slave or an indentured servant bound to labor for another.

The term appears mainly in historical contexts: The bondswoman worked the plantation fields alongside the men.

In legal contexts, a bondswoman may also be a woman who provides bail bonds, though bondsman remains more common even for women in this sense.

servitude

enslaved

Made someone's property

captivityState of being confined
servitudeCompulsory labor under masters
slaveryOwnership of people

chattel · indentured · plantation · ownership · master · mistress · chains · shackles · auction · manumission

gender

female

Offspring-bearing sex

bondmaidEnslaved female servant
handmaidFemale personal attendant
maidservantFemale household worker

surety

guarantor

One pledging another's obligation

bailCourt-set release payment
suretyBacker of obligation
pledgeBinding promise given

collateral · security · defendant · court · legal · liability · obligation · guarantee · indemnity · cosigner

Categories

social ranksking, queen, emperor, empress, noble
rural workerspeasant, farm laborer, farmhand, farmworker, field hand
unfree laborersslave, chattel slave, bondservant, bondman, bondwoman

Opposites

LEGAL ROLE (surety context)

bondswomandefendant

Party facing charges

accused · principal · obligee · detainee · prisoner

FREEDOM STATUS (historical servitude context)

bondswomanfreewoman

Emancipated female person

freedwoman · mistress · slaveholder · slave owner · enslaver

Family

woman, bonds, bond, bound, husband, binder, binding, womanhood, bondage

Familiarity: Top 1,000,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Negative · Everyday, not technical · Rated PG