helotry

[hel-uh-tree, hee-luh-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR helotry ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

serfdom; slavery.

helots collectively.

Origin of helotry

First recorded in 1820–30; Helot + -ry

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for helotry

bondage, labor, enslavement, servitude, captivity, serfdom, subjugation, yoke, enthrallment, thralldom, restraint, work, thrall, grind, drudgery, indenture, drudge, toil, subjection, peonage

Examples from the Web for helotry

Historical Examples of helotry

But, after all, their state is a modern Sparta—an aristocracy resting on a helotry, and with nothing else to rest upon.
Pictures of Southern Life
William Howard Russell
The State is but a gigantic Sparta, in which the helotry are marked by an indelible difference of color and race from the masters.
The Civil War in America
William Howard Russell
But, after all, their State is a modern Sparta—an aristocracy resting on a helotry, and with nothing else to rest upon.
The Civil War in America
William Howard Russell

British Dictionary definitions for helotry

helotry

noun

serfdom or slavery

serfs or slaves as a class

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