slave

American  

[sleyv] / sleɪv /

noun

1. a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another and forced to provide unpaid labor.

2. a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person.

   She was a slave to her own ambition.

3. a drudge.

   a housekeeping slave.

4. a slave ant.

5. Photography.  a subsidiary flash lamp actuated through its photoelectric cell when the principal flash lamp is discharged.

6. Machinery, Computers.  a device or process under control of or repeating the actions of a similar device or process.

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verb (used without object)

slaved, slaving

1. to work like a slave; drudge.

   Synonyms:

   grind , slog , labor , toil

2. to engage in the slave trade; procure, transport, or sell slaves.

verb (used with object)

slaved, slaving

1. Machinery, Computers.  to connect (a device) to a master as its slave.

2. Archaic.  to enslave.

slave British  

/ sleɪv /

noun

1. a person legally owned by another and having no freedom of action or right to property

2. a person who is forced to work for another against his will

3. a person under the domination of another person or some habit or influence

   a slave to television

4. a person who works in harsh conditions for low pay

5. 1. a device that is controlled by or that duplicates the action of another similar device (the master device)

   2. ( as modifier )

      slave cylinder

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verb

1. to work like a slave

2. (tr) an archaic word for enslave

Other Word Forms

• proslave adjective
• semislave noun
• slaveless adjective
• slavelike adjective

Etymology

Origin of slave

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English sclave (also slave ), from Old French escla(i)ve, and Medieval Latin sclāvus (masculine), sclāva (feminine) “slave,” special use of Sclāvus “Slavic, a Slav, slave” (Latin does not tolerate the consonant cluster sl- and employs the cluster scl- instead); so called because Slavs in Central Europe and the Balkans were commonly enslaved in the early Middle Ages; Slav

Example Sentences

While Congress banned slave importation in 1808, it didn’t ban the buying and selling of people.

From The Wall Street Journal

With the 1793 invention of the cotton gin—which separated cotton fibers from its seeds with a previously undreamed-of efficiency—America’s plantation economy expanded exponentially and so did its use of slave labor.

From The Wall Street Journal

Even more heartbreaking is who constructs the road itself: “The captured animals are now being forced to work slave labor,” said Winnie Holzman, who wrote the screenplay with Dana Fox.

From Los Angeles Times

Eric Foner was on to this early, and for the past half century this historian has been a profound student of the slave years, helping to bring their study to its current maturity.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Not every slave worked directly for their owner—just like in today’s complex fissured workplace, where not every employee is working directly for the employer with whom they signed an employment contract.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• bond servant
• bondslave
• bondsman/woman
• captive
• chattel
• serf