peonage
Americannoun
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the condition or service of a peon.
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the practice of holding persons in servitude or partial slavery, as to work off a debt or to serve a penal sentence.
noun
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the state of being a peon
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a system in which a debtor must work for his creditor until the debt is paid off
Etymology
Origin of peonage
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 peonage system lasted across the South for seven decades until World War II, yet many Americans have never heard of it.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2021
Her empathetic portraits of African-American field hands shine a light on a system of peonage that predated and outlasted the 1930s.
From New York Times ● Feb. 13, 2020
During the next two centuries, New England Indians also suffered indentured servitude, convict labor, and debt peonage, which often resulted in the enslavement of the debtor’s children.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 18, 2019
The great promise of technical mastery of the world has led to increasing inequality, and for many, penury and new forms of peonage.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 20, 2017
In 1927 I wus still in peonage but I wus back in Mississippi on Gordon's farm.
From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Georgia Narratives, Part 4 by Work Projects Administration
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.
