slave
Pronunciation: /sleɪv/
The English word “slave” has 10 meanings listed here.
noun
- A person who is held in servitude as the property of another person, and whose labor (and often also whose body and life) is subject to the owner's volition and control.
- A drudge; one who labors or is obliged (e.g. by prior contract) to labor like a slave with limited rights, e.g. an indentured servant.
- An abject person.
- One who has no power of resistance to something, one who surrenders to or is under the domination of something.
- A submissive partner in a BDSM relationship who consensually submits to, sexually or personally, serving one or more masters or mistresses.
- A sex slave, a person who is forced against their will to perform, for another person or group, sexual acts on a regular or continuing basis.
- A device (such as a secondary flash or hard drive) that is subject to the control of another (a master).
verb
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English sclave, from Old French esclave, from Medieval Latin sclavus (“slave”), from Late Latin Sclavus (“Slav”), traditionally assumed to be because Slavs were often forced into slavery in the Middle Ages. The Latin word is from Byzantine Greek Σκλάβος (Sklábos); see that entry and Slav for more. Displaced native Old English þēow. Thrall and bondsman/bondswoman, however,…
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.