galley slave
Americannoun
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a person condemned to work at an oar on a galley.
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a drudge.
noun
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a criminal or slave condemned to row in a galley
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informal a drudge
Etymology
Origin of galley slave
First recorded in 1560–70
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The evil is industrialized labor itself—an entire existence spent like a galley slave pulling an oar.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 23, 2018
Under George Sherman's direction, the picture moves with somnambulist deliberateness and Dana Andrews continues his ponderous new style of acting like a mutinous galley slave.
From Time Magazine Archive
Each student also spends at least one 14-hour stretch chained to Westward's diesel stove as "galley slave," cooking for 34 people.
From Time Magazine Archive
While Smith toiled like a galley slave, his daughters studied geometry in French.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Why, I work like a galley slave helping Dad build up the circulation of this newspaper!”
From Hoofbeats on the Turnpike by Wirt, Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
