slave
noun
[ sleɪv ]
• (especially in the past) a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them.
• "they kidnapped entire towns and turned them into slaves"
Similar:
bondsman,
bondswoman,
bondservant,
bondslave,
serf,
vassal,
thrall,
helot,
odalisque,
blackbird,
hierodule,
slave
verb
• work excessively hard.
• "after slaving away for fourteen years all he gets is two thousand"
Similar:
toil,
labour,
grind,
sweat,
work one's fingers to the bone,
work day and night,
work like a Trojan/dog,
exert oneself,
grub,
plod,
plough,
work one's guts out,
work one's socks off,
kill oneself,
sweat blood,
knock oneself out,
plug away,
slog away,
graft,
fag,
bullock,
drudge,
travail,
moil,
work one's balls/arse/nuts off,
work one's ass/butt off,
Origin:
Middle English: shortening of Old French esclave, equivalent of medieval Latin sclava (feminine) ‘Slavonic (captive)’: the Slavonic peoples had been reduced to a servile state by conquest in the 9th century.
