slave driver

American  

noun

1. an overseer of enslaved laborers and enforcer of hierarchy and discipline in the institution of chattel slavery.

2. a hard taskmaster.

   His boss was a slave driver.

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slave-driver British  

noun

1. (esp formerly) a person forcing slaves to work

2. an employer who demands excessively hard work from his employees

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Etymology

Origin of slave driver

An Americanism dating back to 1800–10

Example Sentences

The rebels were led by Charles Deslondes, a mixed-race slave who laboured as a slave driver on Andry’s plantation.

From The Guardian • May 6, 2019

Perhaps as many five hundred joined the rebellion, led by Charles Deslondes, a mixed-race slave driver on a sugar plantation owned by Manuel Andry.

From Textbooks • Dec. 30, 2014

But in Chiang Kai-shek's China there was no slave driver with a lash.

From Time Magazine Archive

Stern, on the other hand, is "a slave driver."

From Time Magazine Archive

I feel like a slave driver when I make them study on days that were made for the open.

From Amanda — a Daughter of the Mennonites by Myers, Anna Balmer