slave-drivev.
intransitive. To exploit slave labour; to demand hard or servile labour. Also transitive, to demand an excessive amount of work from (a person).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > slavery or bondage > be a slave [verb (intransitive)] > enslave or use slave labour
to bore (any one's) ears1641
blackbird1845
slave-drive1878
society > occupation and work > working > [verb (intransitive)] > work hard or toil > demand hard work
slave-drive1878
society > occupation and work > working > [verb (transitive)] > set (person) to work > overwork
overtravaila1382
slave1699
sweat1821
haze1840
drudge1847
horse1867
slave-drive1878
rawhide1895
1878 G. Meredith Lett. (1970) II. 565 I hope to propose myself to you for a night in January. At present I have the Devil behind me slave-driving.
1889 G. B. Shaw in Star 1 June 4/1 Bully him; slave-drive him.
1889 G. B. Shaw Fabian Ess. Socialism 23 Its ferocious sweating and slave-driving.
a1935 T. E. Lawrence Mint (1955) ii. xiv. 136 Corporal Hemmings again supervised the gymnasium-work today. He slave-drove us as usual.
1952 E. O'Neill Moon for Misbegotten i. 13 He's gone like Thomas and John before him to escape your slave-driving.
1957 W. Camp Prospects of Love ii. v. 61 You're not to let her slave-drive you.
Derivatives
ˈslave-driven adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > working > [adjective] > working > working (too) hard
swinking?c1225
hard-working1682
driven1797
grinded1833
slave-driven1933
1933 A. Brunel Filmcraft 147 Scene 168. Medium close up. The slave-driven father looks desperately round again.
ˈslave-driving adj. and n.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > slavery or bondage > [adjective] > enslaving or using slave labour
enthralling1595
slave-holding1798
slave-holding1798
slave-owning1828
slave-owning1828
slave-driving1830
society > occupation and work > working > [noun] > overworking > causing to
overworking1593
slave-driving1830
sweating1843
society > occupation and work > working > [adjective] > working > working (too) hard > exacting hard work (for low wages)
slave-driving1830
sweating1850
1830 Reg. Deb. Congr. U.S. 10 May 939/1 Here they may live and flourish, until some slave-driving politician and planter of South Carolina..again chains them to a miserable dependence on South Carolina cotton and British looms.
1836 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 562/1 Ye slave driving hosts of factory and poor law commissioners.
1859 J. B. Jones Wild Southern Scenes vi. 46 The reason alleged was his alliance with the ‘slave-driving’ Blounts of the South.
1982 P. Fitzgerald At Freddie's iv. 32 There was no need for her to go back... Indeed it was probably a mistake, and might give Freddie the notion that slave-driving encourages slavery.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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