slave

Definitions


[sleɪv], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a person who is forced to work for and obey another and is considered to be their property; an enslaved person
(e.g: they kidnapped entire towns and turned the inhabitants into slaves)

- a device, or part of one, directly controlled by another
(e.g: a slave cassette deck)


Phrases:

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


[sleɪv], (Verb)

Definitions:
- work excessively hard
(e.g: after slaving away for fourteen years all he gets is two thousand)

- subject (a device) to control by another
(e.g: should the need arise, the two channels can be slaved together)

- make (someone) a slave; enslave


Phrases:

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




definition by Oxford Dictionaries