slavenoun [ C ]
uk/sleɪv/us/sleɪv/B2 a person who is legally owned by someone else and has to work for that person:
Black slaves used to work on the cotton plantations of the southern United States.
I'm tired of being treated like a slave!
More examples
- a galley slave
- a slave and his master
- Slaves were treated with sickening cruelty.
- The slaves were kept in bondage until their death.
- Get your own drink - I'm not your slave!
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Servants, slaves & underlings
- below/above stairs idiom
- butler
- clerk
- coolie
- dogsbody
- factotum
- housemaid
- labourer
- lackey
- lapdog
- maid
- majordomo
- puppet
- retainer
- servant
- skivvy
- slave trade
- slavery
- stair
- valet
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Idiom(s)
be a slave to sth
slaveverb [ I usually + adv/prep ]
uk/sleɪv/us/sleɪv/informalto work very hard at something:
We slaved away all week at the report.
humorous I've been slaving over a hot stove (= cooking) all morning.
See also
enslave
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Work, working and the workplace
- a long way to go idiom
- act as sth 1
- act as sth
- all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy) idiom
- assignment
- cabin
- hold down a job idiom
- hoop
- hot desk
- hot-desking
- hotelling
- housekeeping
- labour
- slouch
- spadework
- stroke
- sweat
- sweat over sth
- swing into action idiom
- temp
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