bondsman
/ˈbɑndzmən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.29 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
noun
Someone who signs a bond that states that they have taken responsibility for someone else's obligations.
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonym: nonfreeman"
- "To Sleep I give my powers away; My will is bondsman to the dark; […]"
- "The one selection he [Frederick Douglass] “perused and reperused,” he remembered, was “Dialogue Between a Master and a Slave.” The naivete and simplicity of this philosophical exchange between a slaveowner and his bondsman “profoundly affected” the early teenage slave as he read its improbable conclusion. What Douglass at least discovered here was that slavery was something subject to “argument,” even between master and slave; that the slave would convince the master to liberate him might seem unlikely in reality, but this did not tarnish the piece’s fundamental point—the slave won the moral debate. The teenage slave needed all the examples he could find of reason winning over power; he was surrounded and imprisoned by the opposite message. The bondsman even gets the last word, warning the slaveholder that, in spite of his moment of “kindness,” he is still “surrounded by implacable foes” bent on “revenge.”"
Etymology
Etymology tree Middle English bonden English bond English -s- Proto-Indo-European *mon- Proto-Germanic *mann- Proto-West Germanic *mann Old English mann Middle English man Middle English -man English -man English bondsman From bond + -s- + -man.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbɑndzmən/
- British English: /ˈbɒndzmən/