slave driver
Americannoun
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an overseer of enslaved laborers and enforcer of hierarchy and discipline in the institution of chattel slavery.
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a hard taskmaster.
His boss was a slave driver.
noun
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(esp formerly) a person forcing slaves to work
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an employer who demands excessively hard work from his employees
Etymology
Origin of slave driver
An Americanism dating back to 1800–10
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.
It would have elevated the slave driver and left enslaved people hopeless.
From Washington Post
In response, Theresa May, the home secretary at the time, sponsored a bill to prosecute what she called “modern slave drivers.”
From New York Times
She said that Italy had been giving immigrants few legal pathways, while instead letting migration be dominated by “smugglers” and “slave drivers.”
From Washington Post
I also see Trump's favorite president, Andrew Jackson, a literal white supremacist slave driver and a man who led a genocidal campaign against First Nations people.
From Salon
He was also a friend and adviser to Donald Trump's favorite president, Andrew Jackson, who was not merely a white supremacist but literally a slave driver.
From Salon
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.