SLAVERY


Meaning of SLAVERY in English

I. slavery ˈslav(ə)rē, -lāv-, -läv-, -lȧv-, -ri adjective

Etymology: Middle English, from slaver (II) + -y

archaic : slobbery , driveling

II. slav·ery ˈslāv(ə)rē, -ri noun

( -es )

Etymology: slave (I) + -ery

1. : hard work : drudgery , labor

I never rowed — about the most awful form of slavery which mankind knows — A.P.Herbert

2.

a. : submissiveness to a dominating influence : subservience

slavery to habit

deliverance of mankind from the long slavery of want, fear and cruelty — Leslie Rees

b. : control by imposed authority : subjection

the … slavery of soldiers on the march — W.R.Inge

all government without the consent of the governed is … slavery — Jonathan Swift

3. : the quality or state of being a slave : the practice or institution of keeping slaves : bondage , servitude

no one shall be held in slavery or servitude — U.N. Declaration of Human Rights

neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime … shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdcition — U.S.Constitution

the inhuman exploitation of chattel slavery — Lewis Mumford

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.