slaver
1 Americanverb (used without object)
-
slavers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slavered,
past participle, past
-
slavering
present participle
-
to let saliva run from the mouth; slobber; drool.
-
to fawn.
verb (used with object)
-
slavers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slavered,
past participle, past
-
slavering
present participle
noun
-
saliva coming from the mouth.
verb
-
to dribble saliva
-
(often foll by over)
-
to fawn or drool (over someone)
-
to show great desire (for); lust (after)
-
noun
-
saliva dribbling from the mouth
-
informal drivel
noun
-
an owner of or dealer in slaves
-
another name for slave ship
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
slaversimple
-
slaverssimple
-
have slaveredperfect
-
has slaveredperfect
-
am slaveringprogressive
-
are slaveringprogressive
-
is slaveringprogressive
-
have been slaveringperfect progressive
-
has been slaveringperfect progressive
Past
-
slaveredsimple
-
had slaveredperfect
-
was slaveringprogressive
-
were slaveringprogressive
-
had been slaveringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slaver1
First recorded in 1815–25; slave + -er 1
Origin of slaver2
1275–1325; Middle English slaver (noun), slaveren (v.), probably < Scandinavian; compare Icelandic slafra to slobber
Explanation
Someone who brutally and cruelly forces people into servitude is a slaver. If you come across this word being used as a verb, it has an entirely different meaning (and pronunciation), to slobber or drool. You can use the historical word slaver to talk about the slave traders who captured and sold human beings into slavery, as well as the slave owners who forced enslaved people to work. It also describes the ships that transported enslaved Africans: "Many people died at sea on the slavers." When used as a verb, slaver is pronounced with a short a and it has a much gentler meaning. Your dog might start to slaver as you pour food into her dish.
Vocabulary lists containing slaver
The Tyrant's Tomb
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Tales from Earthsea
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The Mechanical Mind of John Coggin
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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.
See Examples For:
A memorial to an 18th Century slaver has been removed from a church.
From BBC ● May 19, 2023
The Portuguese monarchy also hired explorers such as Alvise Cadamosto, a Venetian slaver sent to scout the region of Senegambia.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
“Is he looking for the whole truth here? The fact that he was a slaver and ran slaves up to the colonies? That’s what the historical documents say,” Hunt said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2022
But even as networks and streaming services slaver over intellectual property with prearranged fan bases, few mass-market romance novels have found their way to screens.
From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2020
"So the slaver has become a spy," Ned said with distaste.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
Thus the British, who had been such enthusiastic slavers, went on to force Muslim rulers to end their own version of the practice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
This period witnessed the emergence of expansionist new states in West Africa, such as Dahomey and Segou, whose wars of conquest generated captives for European slavers.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
They could be lamentations or celebrations; at the same time, they could serve as a means of stealthy communication, spreading news outside the ken of white slavers.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2022
My own version of that would be: “Since the legacy of slavers cannot be borne, their names are crossed out. Since the legacy of slavers cannot be covered up, their names remain legible.”
From Washington Post ● Jul. 8, 2022
The slavers had always been able to count on the support of English nobles, who resisted any change that might diminish their power.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
New York’s talent-hungry musical theater slavered for a follow-up.
From New York Times ● Oct. 8, 2019
When the film played at Cannes in spring 2001, it was slavered over by critics; on release that autumn, it hit big.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 15, 2017
Then he did a bit in which he slavered over Sabra hummus and Rold Gold pretzels.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 12, 2015
They slavered over the delicious incongruity of this young thruster mixing it up with gimlet-eyed corporate lawyers, and winning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2015
The claws waved as the monstrosity slavered from a gaping frog's mouth, a mouth which was fanged with a shark's vicious teeth.
From Plague Ship by Norton, Andre
But some of the verdicts weren't just from long-standing critics or those with a dog slavering to get in to the fight.
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
Still, it was surprising to hear such a slavering tribute from a scientist in the midst of a global health crisis.
From Salon ● Mar. 9, 2020
With Star Wars: The Last Jedi, writer-director Rian Johnson made a point of answering questions set up by The Force Awakens, and giving fans some answers they were slavering for.
From The Verge ● Dec. 18, 2017
Even before the break, Mailer, one of his closest friends, called his work “brutal — coarse, intimate, snide, grasping, groping, slavering, slippery of reference, crude and naturally tasteless.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2017
I pull myself in tight under the rock ledge, but can’t stop my jowls from slavering at the thought of food.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
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.
