I. ˈslāv noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English sclave, from Old French or Medieval Latin; Old French esclave slave, from Medieval Latin Sclavus, sclavus Slavic, Slavic held in servitude, slave, from Late Greek Sklabos Slavic, from Sklabēnos of or relating to the Slavs, from Sklabēnoi, plural, Slavs, of Slavic origin; akin to Old Bulgarian Slověne a Slavic group of people in the area of Thessalonike, Old Russian Slověne, an East-Slavic group of people near Novgorod, Slovutich Dnieper river, Serbian Slavnica, a river
1.
a. : a person held in servitude : one that is the chattel of another : bondman , thrall
plantation life with slaves, indentured servants, or tenants — W.M.Kollmorgen
begins her career as a slave , a pretty child bought from miserably poor parents under a contract — Lafcadio Hearn
b. archaic : a despicable person
the … atheist, if earth bear so base a slave — William Cowper
c. obsolete : an inconsequential person : fellow , joker
oh slaves, I can tell you news, news you rascals — Shakespeare
2.
a. : a servile or submissive follower : lackey
his father's most abject slave — Abram Kardiner
b. : a person completely subservient to a dominating influence : one who has surrendered control of himself
all his life he had been a slave to the land, harnessed to the elemental forces — Ellen Glasgow
spineless slaves of tradition — Bennett Cerf
c. : one that labors for another : servant
a civilization in which machines are slaves, and all men may be free — W.H.Camp
d.
(1) : a mechanical device that is directly responsive to another (as an electronic device for firing auxiliary flash bulbs) ; especially : a remote-control device for handling radioactive materials
(2) : slave station
3. : a toiler at hard monotonous work : drudge
slaves in the Pentagon worked nights and through the holidays to revamp the budget — T.R.Phillips
4. : slave ant
II. verb
( slaved ; slaved ; slaving ; slaves )
transitive verb
1.
a. archaic : to reduce to bondage : enslave
thou canst not slave or banish me — John Marston
b. : to make directly responsive to another mechanism
the gyro unit is continuously slaved to a compass — C.G.Yates
2.
a. archaic : to employ at hard labor
Egyptian kings built them monuments, wherein they slaved their whole nation — Martin Lister
b. : to wear out by hard work
bullied … and slaved her half to death — H.G.Evarts
intransitive verb
1. : to work like a slave : toil , drudge
slaved sixteen hours a day for money to buy food — Irish Digest
had to slave so hard to make … a showing at his school work — Archibald Marshall
2. : to traffic in slaves
slaving was still active and profitable, in spite of the best efforts of the missionaries — A.W.Smith
III. adjective
1. : held in servitude : enslaved
born of slave parents
activity to liberate slave peoples in eastern Europe — Quincy Wright
2.
a. : of, relating to, involving, or characteristic of slaves
slave auction
slave owner
slave question
with true slave mentality … sacrifices himself to the group — Priscilla Robertson
b. : used for or restricted to the use of slaves
slave ship
slave quarters
a slave gallery extends across the … end of the nave — American Guide Series: North Carolina
c. : concerned with or dealing in slaves
slave voyage
slave trader
d.
(1) : favoring or legally permitting slavery
slave territory
(2) : based on or characterized by slavery
slave economy
3. : activated by remote control
the device now tucked away behind the dials isn't properly a clockwork but a … slave unit activated by an electric clock inside the bank — New Yorker
specifically : responding to manipulation of the master-end of the apparatus
scientists manipulate radioactive material with intricate slave bands — Time
IV. ˈsläv, -a-, -ȧ-
archaic
variant of slav
V. ˈslāv noun
( -s )
Usage: usually capitalized
1.
a. : an Athapaskan people living between the Rocky mountains and the Great Slave lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada — called also Slavey
b. : a member of such people
2. : the language of the Slave people