| 释义 |
serfdom|ˈsɜːfdəm|
[f. serf + -dom.]
The state or condition of a serf, bondage.
1850Mrs. Browning H. Powers's Grk. Slave 10 Break up ere long The serfdom of this world! 1856Froude Hist. Eng. I. 13 Thus serfdom had merged into free servitude. 1861Bright Sp., Amer. 4 Dec. (1876) 90 The present Emperor of Russia..has insisted upon the abolition of serfdom in that empire. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt iii, The Tories were far from being all oppressors, disposed to grind down the working classes into serfdom. 1899Westm. Gaz. 12 June 8/1 Exactly one hundred years ago (June 13, 1799) the last survival of serfdom in the United Kingdom was swept away by the Act which declared the colliers ‘in that part of Great Britain called Scotland’ free from the servile yoke under which for several centuries they had groaned.
b. fig.
1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 470 His soul is full of meanness and serfdom—the best elements in him are enslaved. 1876Mellor Priesthood ii, At length the laity sank into the most abject spiritual serfdom. |