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thrall

[thrawl]
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noun
  1. a person who is in bondage; slave.
  2. a person who is morally or mentally enslaved by some power, influence, or the like: He was the thrall of morbid fantasies.
  3. slavery; thralldom.
verb (used with object)
  1. Archaic. to put or hold in thralldom; enslave.
adjective
  1. Archaic. subjected to bondage; enslaved.

Origin of thrall

before 950; Middle English; Old English thrǣl < Old Norse thrǣll slave
Related formsun·thralled, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for thralled

Historical Examples

  • The Purple Emperor aroma—the Belinda magic—held him thralled.

    Shadows of Flames

    Amelie Rives

  • He was the voice of God talking into men's ears; and the music of that low, quiet voice thrilled and thralled their hearts.

  • Now was I under the spell of that ancient life which had held him thralled to his very end.

    Miss Primrose

    Roy Rolfe Gilson

  • This the sure instinct of his art taught him he might not do, since those tales which held them thralled were not for such as she.

British Dictionary definitions for thralled

thrall

noun
  1. Also called: thraldom, (US) thralldom (ˈθrɔːldəm) the state or condition of being in the power of another person
  2. a person who is in such a state
  3. a person totally subject to some need, desire, appetite, etc
verb
  1. (tr) to enslave or dominate

Word Origin

Old English thrǣl slave, from Old Norse thrǣll
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for thralled

thrall

n.

Old English þræl "bondman, serf, slave," from Old Norse þræll "slave, servant," probably from Proto-Germanic *thrakhilaz, literally "runner," from root *threh- "to run" (cf. Old High German dregil "servant," properly "runner;" Old English þrægan, Gothic þragjan "to run").

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper