slave
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Related to slave: slave trade, Slave Dynasty
slave
(slāv)n.
1. One who is owned as the property of someone else, especially in involuntary servitude.
2. One who is subservient to or controlled by another: his boss's slave.
3. One who is subject to or controlled by a specified influence: a slave to alcohol; a slave to an irrational fear.
4. One who works extremely hard.
5. One who acts out the role of the submissive partner in a sadomasochistic relationship.
6. A slave ant.
7. A machine or component controlled by another machine or component.
intr.v. slaved, slav·ing, slaves
1. To work very hard or doggedly; toil.
2. To trade in or transport slaves.
3. To cause a machine or component to be controlled by another machine or component.
[Middle English sclave, from Old French esclave, from Medieval Latin sclāvus, from Sclāvus, Slav (from the widespread enslavement of captured Slavs in the early Middle Ages); see Slav.]
Word History: The derivation of the word slave encapsulates a bit of European history and explains why the two words slave and Slav are so similar; they are, in fact, historically identical. The word slave first appears in English around 1290, spelled sclave. The spelling is based on Old French esclave from Medieval Latin sclavus, "Slav, slave," first recorded around 800. Sclavus comes from Byzantine Greek sklabos (pronounced sklä′vōs) "Slav," which appears around 580. Sklavos approximates the Slavs' own name for themselves, the Slověnci, surviving in English Slovene and Slovenian. The spelling of English slave, closer to its original Slavic form, first appears in English in the 1500s. Slavs became slaves around the beginning of the ninth century when the Holy Roman Empire tried to stabilize a German-Slav frontier. By the 1100s, stabilization had given way to wars of expansion and extermination that did not end until 1410, when the Poles crushed the knights of the Teutonic Order at Grunwald in north-central Poland. · As far as the Slavs' own self-designation goes, its meaning is, understandably, better than "slave"; it comes from the Indo-European root *kleu-, whose basic meaning is "to hear" and occurs in many derivatives meaning "renown, fame." The Slavs are thus "the famous people." Slavic names ending in -slav incorporate the same word, such as Czech Bohu-slav, "God's fame," Russian Msti-slav, "vengeful fame," and Polish Stani-slaw, "famous for withstanding (enemies)."
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
slave
(sleɪv)n
1. (Law) a person legally owned by another and having no freedom of action or right to property
2. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) a person who is forced to work for another against his will
3. a person under the domination of another person or some habit or influence: a slave to television.
4. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) a person who works in harsh conditions for low pay
5. (Mechanical Engineering)
a. a device that is controlled by or that duplicates the action of another similar device (the master device)
b. (as modifier): slave cylinder.
vb
6. (often foll by: away) to work like a slave
7. (tr) an archaic word for enslave
[C13: via Old French from Medieval Latin Sclāvus a Slav, one held in bondage (from the fact that the Slavonic races were frequently conquered in the Middle Ages), from Late Greek Sklabos a Slav]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
slave
(sleɪv)n., v. slaved, slav•ing. n.
1. a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another; bond servant.
2. a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person.
3. a drudge: a housekeeping slave.
4. a mechanism under control of and repeating the actions of a similar mechanism. Compare master (def. 17).
v.i. 5. to work like a slave; drudge.
6. to engage in the slave trade.
v.t. 7. Archaic. to enslave.
[1250–1300; Middle English sclave < Medieval Latin sclāvus (masculine), sclāva (feminine) slave, orig., Slav; so called because Slavs were commonly enslaved in the early Middle Ages]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
slave
- amanuensis - Literally "slave at hand"—for a literary assistant, especially one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts.
- ciao - Also ciau; from Italian, it is an alteration of schiavo, "(I am your) slave."
- serve - From Latin servire, "serve," from servus, "slave."
- addict - To addict originally meant "to award as a slave"; an addict now is a slave to his/her habit, from Latin addictus, which, in Roman law, meant "a debtor awarded as a slave to his creditor."
Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.
slave
Past participle: slaved
Gerund: slaving
Imperative |
---|
slave |
slave |
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
Noun | 1. | slave - a person who is owned by someone individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do" bond servant - someone bound to labor without wages puppet, tool, creature - a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else galley slave - a slave condemned to row in a galley |
3. | slave - someone entirely dominated by some influence or person; "a slave to fashion"; "a slave to cocaine"; "his mother was his abject slave" | |
Verb | 1. | slave - work very hard, like a slave |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
slave
noun
verb
1. toil, labour, grind (informal), drudge, sweat, graft, slog, sweat blood, skivvy (Brit.), work your fingers to the bone, work your guts out, keep your nose to the grindstone slaving over a hot stove
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
slave
nounverbThe American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
otrokotročit-yně
slavetræl
orjaraataa
robrobovati
agyondolgozza magátrabszolga
hamba
òrælaòrællvinnuòræll
奴隷奴隷のように働くスレーブ
노예혹사하다
vergasvergautivergovėvergvaldystė
vergsvergot
otročiťotrok
suženj
slavslavasexslav
ทาสทำงานอย่างหนัก
köleköle gibi çalışmakköle gibi çalışan
làm việc như nô lệnô lệ
slave
[sleɪv]A. N → esclavo/a m/f
to be a slave to sth (fig) → ser esclavo de algo
to be a slave to tobacco → ser esclavo del tabaco
to be a slave to duty → ser esclavo del deber
to be a slave to sth (fig) → ser esclavo de algo
to be a slave to tobacco → ser esclavo del tabaco
to be a slave to duty → ser esclavo del deber
B. VI to slave (away) at sth/at doing sth → trabajar como un negro en algo/haciendo algo
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
slave
[ˈsleɪv] n
(lit) → esclave mf
vi (= work very hard) → trimer, travailler comme un forçat
to slave over a hot stove → trimer aux fourneaux
to slave away at sth → se tuer à qch
to slave away at doing sth → se tuer à faire qchslave driver n (pejorative) → négrier/ière m/fslave labour (British) slave labor (US) n
to slave over a hot stove → trimer aux fourneaux
slave away
vi → trimer, travailler comme un forçatto slave away at sth → se tuer à qch
to slave away at doing sth → se tuer à faire qchslave driver n (pejorative) → négrier/ière m/fslave labour (British) slave labor (US) n
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
slave
vi → sich abplagen, schuften (inf); to slave (away) at something → sich mit etw herumschlagen; to slave over a hot stove → (den ganzen Tag) am Herd stehen; he was slaving over his homework → er schlug sich mit seinen Hausaufgaben herum
slave
:slave-driver
n (lit, fig) → Sklaventreiber(in) m(f)
slave labour, (US) slave labor
slave market
n (Hist) → Sklavenmarkt m
slave
:slave ship
n → Sklavenschiff nt
slave trade
n → Sklavenhandel m
slave trader
n = slaver1
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
slave
[sleɪv]Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
slave
(sleiv) noun1. a person who works for a master to whom he belongs. In the nineteenth century many Africans were sold as slaves in the United States.
2. a person who works very hard for someone else. He has a slave who types his letters and organizes his life for him.
verb to work very hard, often for another person. I've been slaving away for you all day while you sit and watch television.
ˈslavery noun1. the state of being a slave.
2. the system of ownership of slaves.
3. very hard and badly-paid work. Her job is sheer slavery.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
slave
→ عَبْد, يُكَدِّحُ otročit, otrok slave schuften, Sklave σκλάβος, σκλαβώνω esclavizar, esclavo orja, raataa esclave, trimer rob, robovati lavorare come uno schiavo, schiavo 奴隷, 奴隷のように働く 노예, 혹사하다 slaaf, uitsloven (zich) slave niewolnik, tyrać escravizar, escravo выполнять тяжелую работу, раб slav, slava ทาส, ทำงานอย่างหนัก köle, köle gibi çalışmak làm việc như nô lệ, nô lệ 奴隶, 辛勤努力Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009