slaving
noun
[ sleɪvɪŋ ]
• the action of enslaving people.
• "a slaving expedition"
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.
