thrall
- a person who is in bondage; slave.
- a person who is morally or mentally enslaved by some power, influence, or the like: He was the thrall of morbid fantasies.
- slavery; thralldom.
- Archaic. to put or hold in thralldom; enslave.
- Archaic. subjected to bondage; enslaved.
Origin of thrall
Examples from the Web for thrall
Contemporary Examples of thrall
They are an elusive bunch, in motion or in the thrall of another time.
The sheikh is ready to flee if the Lebanese security forces, considered to be in thrall to Hezbollah, make a move to arrest him.
Most natives speak Russian as their first language, and are more in thrall to Russian culture than Ukrainian.
Thrall is right to imply that the Olmert-Abbas principles were a only start and there is no guarantee that starting is succeeding.
What chance then is there for any change in a conclave in thrall to Benedict and John Paul?
Historical Examples of thrall
What man would be so caitiff and thrall as to fail you at your need?
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
She was in the thrall of fear, but, had she been questioned, would not have allowed that she was afraid.
A Spirit in PrisonRobert Hichens
I was but thirteen and of a spirit that had been cowed by her, and was held under her thrall.
The Strolling SaintRaphael Sabatini
But Audrey herself was too completely the thrall of the illusion to feel compunction.
Audrey CravenMay Sinclair
The joy of it all held her in its thrall, and, for the moment at least, there was nothing else in the world.
The Golden WomanRidgwell Cullum
thrall
- Also called: thraldom, (US) thralldom (ˈθrɔːldəm) the state or condition of being in the power of another person
- a person who is in such a state
- a person totally subject to some need, desire, appetite, etc
- (tr) to enslave or dominate
Word Origin for thrall
Word Origin and History for thrall
Old English þræl "bondman, serf, slave," from Old Norse þræll "slave, servant," probably from Proto-Germanic *thrakhilaz, literally "runner," from root *threh- "to run" (cf. Old High German dregil "servant," properly "runner;" Old English þrægan, Gothic þragjan "to run").