slave
[noun]
Synonyms:
- servant, drudge, serf, skivvy (chiefly Brit.), vassal
[verb]
Synonyms:
- toil, drudge, slog

---

Antonyms: freeman
Contrasted words: freedman, freedwoman, deditician
Related Idioms: work like a slave
Related Words: help, menial, retainer, servant, helot, serf, thrall, vassal, coolie

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. slave¹ /sleɪv/ noun [countable]
[Date: 1200-1300; Language: Old French; Origin: esclave, from Medieval Latin sclavus, from Sclavus ( ⇒ Slavic); because in the early Middle Ages many Slavic people in central Europe were slaves]

1. someone who is owned by another person and works for them for no money
the slave trade (=the buying and selling of slaves, especially Africans who were taken to America)

2. be a slave to/of something to be so strongly influenced by something that you cannot make your own decisions – used to show disapproval:
a slave to fashion

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. slave² verb [intransitive always + adverb/preposition]
to work very hard with little time to rest
slave away (at something)
I’ve been slaving away at this report.
slave over
He’s been slaving over his history essay.
slave (away) over a hot stove (=cook – used humorously)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

slave
noun
ADJ. fugitive, runaway
VERB + SLAVE have, own | buy, take sb as | sell (sb as) | use (sb as) | free, liberate landowners who freed their slaves voluntarily
SLAVE + NOUN labour a railway built by slave labour
driver, master, owner, trader | market, trade, traffic the abolition of the slave trade
ship
PREP. ~ of a slave of habit
~ to a slave to fashion
PHRASES the emancipation of slaves, the trade in slaves

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲