indenture

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
indenture /ɪnˈdɛntʃə/

▶noun a formal agreement, contract, or list, formerly one of which copies with indented edges were made for the contracting parties.

■ an agreement binding an apprentice to a master.

■ historical a contract by which a person agreed to work for a set period for a colonial landowner in exchange for passage to the colony.

▶verb chiefly historical bind by an indenture.

– derivatives
indentureship noun.