Lat. In Roman law. Bound; bound persons. A term applied to such insolvent debtors as were delivered up to their creditors, by whom they might be held in bondage until their debts were discharged. Calvin.; Adams, Rom. Ant. 49.
[L.] Amongst the ancient Romans, free-born persons bound to a creditor for debt, and compelled to serve him until the debt was discharged. The condition of the man so bound was called Nexum.