Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Slave
Slave
(slāv)
, Noun.
[Cf. F.
esclave
, D. slaaf
, Dan. slave
, sclave
, Sw. slaf
, all fr. G. sklave
, MHG. also slave
, from the national name of the Slavonians, or Sclavonians (in LL. Slavi
or Sclavi
), who were frequently made slaves by the Germans. See Slav
.] 1.
A person who is held in bondage to another; one who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who is held as a chattel; one who has no freedom of action, but whose person and services are wholly under the control of another.
Art thou our
Our captive, at the public mill our drudge?
slave
,Our captive, at the public mill our drudge?
Milton.
2.
One who has lost the power of resistance; one who surrenders himself to any power whatever;
as, a
. slave
to passion, to lust, to strong drink, to ambition3.
A drudge; one who labors like a slave.
4.
An abject person; a wretch.
Shak.
Slave ant
(Zool.)
, any species of ants which is captured and enslaved by another species, especially
– Formica fusca
of Europe and America, which is commonly enslaved by Formica sanguinea
. Slave catcher
, one who attempted to catch and bring back a fugitive slave to his master.
– Slave coast
, part of the western coast of Africa to which slaves were brought to be sold to foreigners.
– Slave driver
, one who superintends slaves at their work; hence, figuratively, a cruel taskmaster.
– Slave hunt
. (a)
A search after persons in order to reduce them to slavery
. Barth.
(b)
A search after fugitive slaves, often conducted with bloodhounds.
– Slave ship
, a vessel employed in the slave trade or used for transporting slaves; a slaver.
– Slave trade
, the business of dealing in slaves, especially of buying them for transportation from their homes to be sold elsewhere.
– Slave trader
, one who traffics in slaves.
Syn. – Bond servant; bondman; bondslave; captive; henchman; vassal; dependent; drudge. See
Serf
. Slave
,Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Slaved
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Slaving
.] To drudge; to toil; to labor as a slave.
Slave
,Verb.
T.
To enslave.
Marston.
Webster 1828 Edition
Slave
SLAVE
, n.1.
A person who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who has no will of his own, but whose person and services are wholly under the control of another. In the early state of the world, and to this day among some barbarous nations, prisoners of war are considered and treated as slaves. The slaves of modern times are more generally purchased, like horses and oxen.2.
One who has lost the poser of resistance; or one who surrenders himself to any power whatever; as a slave to passion, to lust, to ambition.3.
A mean person; one in the lowest state of life.4.
A drudge; one who labors like a slave.SLAVE
,Verb.
I.
Definition 2024
Slave
slave
slave
English
Alternative forms
obsolete alternative forms[1]
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Noun
slave (plural slaves)
- A person who is the property of another person and whose labor and also whose life often is subject to the owner's volition.
- A person who is legally obliged by prior contract (oral or written) to work for another, with contractually limited rights to bargain; an indentured servant.
- One who has lost the power of resistance; one who surrenders to something.
- a slave to passion, to strong drink, or to ambition
- A drudge; one who labours like a slave.
- An abject person; a wretch.
- Art thou the slave that with thy breath hast kill'd/ Mine innocent child? Shakespeare. Much Ado About Nothing.
- A person who is forced against his/her will to perform, for another person or other persons, sexual acts or other personal services on a regular or continuing basis.
- (engineering) A device that is controlled by another device.
Derived terms
Terms derived from slave
See also
- chattel
- indentured servant
-
Slave (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Slavery on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Translations
person owned by another
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person forced to work for another
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person who is forced to perform sexual acts
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engineering: device that is controlled by another device
Verb
slave (third-person singular simple present slaves, present participle slaving, simple past and past participle slaved)
- (intransitive) To work hard.
- I was slaving all day over a hot stove.
- (transitive) To enslave.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Marston to this entry?)
- (transitive) To place a device under the control of another.
- to slave a hard disk
- 2005, Simon Millward, Fast Guide to Cubase SX (page 403)
- Slaving one digital audio device to another unit using timecode alone results in time-based synchronisation […]
Translations
to work hard
References
- August 2, 2004, "EE Times: Beware 'zombie' clauses
- Notes:
- 1 2 “slave, n.1 (and a.)” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989
- ↑ “slave” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
- ↑ “slave” in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Online.
- ↑ “slave” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
Anagrams
Danish
Noun
slave c (singular definite slaven, plural indefinite slaver)
Synonyms
- træl c
Derived terms
- slaveri n
Inflection
Inflection of slave
Verb
slave (imperative slav, infinitive at slave, present tense slaver, past tense slavede, perfect tense har slavet)
Synonyms
- trælle (verb)
French
Etymology
From Middle French Sclave, from Medieval Latin Sclavus, from Byzantine Greek Σκλάβος (Sklábos), from Proto-Slavic *slověninъ (plural form is *slověne). Doublet of esclave.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /slav/
Adjective
slave m, f (plural slaves)
Derived terms
- panslave
- panslavisme
- Slave
- slavisant
- slaviser
- slavisme
- slaviste
- slavistique
- slavophile
- slavophilie
- slavophilisme
Related terms
Noun
slave m (uncountable)
- Slavic language
- Avant le IXe siècle, on présume que les Slaves partageaient tous une langue à peu près identique appelée le slave commun, mais aucun écrit avant 860 ne peut le prouver.
References
- “slave” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Anagrams
Latvian
Noun
slave f (5th declension)
Declension
Declension of slave (5th declension)
| singular (vienskaitlis) | plural (daudzskaitlis) | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative (nominatīvs) | slave | — |
| accusative (akuzatīvs) | slavi | — |
| genitive (ģenitīvs) | slaves | — |
| dative (datīvs) | slavei | — |
| instrumental (instrumentālis) | slavi | — |
| locative (lokatīvs) | slavē | — |
| vocative (vokatīvs) | slave | — |
Norwegian Bokmål
Noun
slave m (definite singular slaven, indefinite plural slaver, definite plural slavene)
- a slave
Related terms
Derived terms
References
- “slave” in The Bokmål Dictionary.