helot noun. ['hɛlǝt] L16.
[Latin Helotes pl. from Greek Heilōtes (pl. of Heilōs), also Hilotae from Greek Heilōtai (pl. of Heilōtēs): usu. derived from Helos a town in Laconia whose inhabitants were enslaved.]
Greek History.
1. (Helot.) A member of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta, intermediate in status between slaves and citizens. L16.
drunken Helot: forced to appear in a drunken state as a dreadful warning to Spartan youths.

2. transf. & fig. A serf, a slave. E19.
■ P. D. James Dalgliesh's helot, whose role was to take unobtrusive notes.

■ helotage noun = helotism (a) M19.

■ helotism noun (a) a system under which a class of the community is treated as inferior or subjugated; the condition of a helot; (b) Biology a form of symbiosis in which one organism is held to make use of another as if it were a slave; esp. the relationship of ants and aphids, or of fungus and alga in a lichen: E19.

■ helotize verb trans. reduce to the condition of a helot M19.

■ helotry noun (a) helots collectively; (b) the condition of a helot, slavery: E19.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲