slave

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Related to slaved: enslaved

slave

(slāv)

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)

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.

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]

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."

slave

Past participle: slaved
Gerund: slaving

Imperative
slave
slave

Present
I slave
you slave
he/she/it slaves
we slave
you slave
they slave

Preterite
I slaved
you slaved
he/she/it slaved
we slaved
you slaved
they slaved

Present Continuous
I am slaving
you are slaving
he/she/it is slaving
we are slaving
you are slaving
they are slaving

Present Perfect
I have slaved
you have slaved
he/she/it has slaved
we have slaved
you have slaved
they have slaved

Past Continuous
I was slaving
you were slaving
he/she/it was slaving
we were slaving
you were slaving
they were slaving

Past Perfect
I had slaved
you had slaved
he/she/it had slaved
we had slaved
you had slaved
they had slaved

Future
I will slave
you will slave
he/she/it will slave
we will slave
you will slave
they will slave

Future Perfect
I will have slaved
you will have slaved
he/she/it will have slaved
we will have slaved
you will have slaved
they will have slaved

Future Continuous
I will be slaving
you will be slaving
he/she/it will be slaving
we will be slaving
you will be slaving
they will be slaving

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been slaving
you have been slaving
he/she/it has been slaving
we have been slaving
you have been slaving
they have been slaving

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been slaving
you will have been slaving
he/she/it will have been slaving
we will have been slaving
you will have been slaving
they will have been slaving

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been slaving
you had been slaving
he/she/it had been slaving
we had been slaving
you had been slaving
they had been slaving

Conditional
I would slave
you would slave
he/she/it would slave
we would slave
you would slave
they would slave

Past Conditional
I would have slaved
you would have slaved
he/she/it would have slaved
we would have slaved
you would have slaved
they would have slaved

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" bondsman, bondman - a male slave bondmaid, bondwoman, bondswoman - a female slave 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" individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do"
Verb	1.	slave - work very hard, like a slave break one's back, buckle down, knuckle down do work, work - be employed; "Is your husband working again?"; "My wife never worked"; "Do you want to work after the age of 60?"; "She never did any work because she inherited a lot of money"; "She works as a waitress to put herself through college"

slave

noun

1. servant, serf, vassal, bondsman, slavey (Brit. informal), varlet (archaic), villein, bondservant still living as slaves in the desert

2. drudge, skivvy (chiefly Brit.), scullion (archaic) Mum says to Dad, `I'm not your slave, you know!'

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

noun

One who works or toils tirelessly:

drudge, fag, grub, plodder.

Informal: grind, workhorse.

verb

To do tedious, laborious, and sometimes menial work:

drudge, grub, plod, slog.

Informal: grind.

Translations

عَبْديَعْمَلُ عن غَيْرِه عملا شاقّايُكَدِّحُ

otrokotročit-yně

slavetræl

Sklave schuften Sklavin abarbeiten

σκλάβος σκλαβώνω δούλος

esclavo trabajar como un negro trabajar como una bestia esclavizar

orjaraataa

esclave trimer

robrobovati

agyondolgozza magátrabszolga

hamba

òrælaòrællvinnuòræll

schiavo schiava lavorare come uno schiavo pedissequamente pedissequo

奴隷奴隷のように働くスレーブ

노예혹사하다

vergasvergautivergovėvergvaldystė

vergsvergot

slaaf uitsloven (zich)

slave trell slite som en gamp arbeide som en slave arbeidsslave

niewolnik tyrać niewolnica

escravo escrava escravizar

раб рабыня рабский выполнять тяжелую работу

otročiťotrok

suženj

slavslavasexslav

ทาสทำงานอย่างหนัก

köle köle gibi çalışmakköle gibi çalışan

làm việc như nô lệnô lệ

奴隶苦工辛勤努力作苦工

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

B. VI to slave (away) at sth/at doing sth → trabajar como un negro en algo/haciendo algo

C. CPD slave driver N → negrero/a m/f (fig) → tirano/a m/f
slave labour N (= work) → trabajo m de esclavos; (= persons) → esclavos mpl
slave trade N → trata f de esclavos, comercio m de esclavos, tráfico m de esclavos
slave trader N → traficante mf en esclavos

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]

(lit) → esclave mf

(fig) → esclave
to be a slave to sth [+ fashion, convention, work] → être l'esclave de qch

vi (= work very hard) → trimer, travailler comme un forçat
to slave over a hot stove → trimer aux fourneaux

slave away

vi → trimer, travailler comme un forçat
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

(lit) → travail m des esclaves
built by slave labour → construit(e) grâce au travail des esclaves
based on slave labour → fondé(e) sur le travail des esclaves

(fig) → esclavage m
it's just slave labour → c'est de l'esclavage

slave

n → Sklave m, → Sklavin f; to be a slave to somebody/something → jds Sklave/Sklave von etw sein

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

(= work) → Sklavenarbeit f

(= work force) → Sklaven pl; he uses slave → seine Leute müssen wie die Sklaven arbeiten

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]

1. n → schiavo/a
to be a slave to sth (fig) → essere schiavo/a di qc
to be a slave of habit → essere schiavo/a delle abitudini

2. vi to slave (away) at sth/at doing sth → sgobbare per qc/per fare qc

slave

(sleiv) noun

1. 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 noun

1. 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.

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