enserf

en·serf

(ĕn-sûrf′)

tr.v. en·serfed, en·serf·ing, en·serfs

To make into or as if into a serf.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

enserf

(ɪnˈsɜːf)

vb (tr)

to make into, or treat like, a slave

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

en•serf

(ɛnˈsɜrf)

v.t.

to make a serf of; place in bondage.

[1880–85]

en•serf′ment, n.

References in periodicals archive ?

The collectivities of the population did not line up in satisfying ways: Russians were not all Orthodox, even though they were supposed to be; the Caucasus was populated with many ethnic groups, including Russians, not neatly settled in separate spaces; Georgian nobles were more than willing to enserf Russian peasants; heretic and pacifist exiles made their fortunes by assisting the military in its wars against mostly Muslim enemies.

An Imperial rights regime: law and citizenship in the Russian empire

Thus American taxpayers have ended up with the same burden that lies heavily on Third World countries: a huge debt, contracted by an oligarchic government that enserfs them to outsiders.