slave

«slave» in Mova's school dictionary: a person who is owned by another person and forced to… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a slave, slaves); verb (slave, slaves, slaved, slaving — informal)

meaning for a pupil

1) A slave is a person who is owned by another person and forced to work without pay or freedom. tree →

2) (informal) To slave or slave away is to work very hard: "Dad slaved over the dinner." tree →

3) A slave to something is a person who is controlled by it, like "a slave to fashion". tree →

sense in the lessons

In history lessons pupils learn about slavery in ancient Egypt, Rome, and the Atlantic slave trade, when millions of Africans were taken by force to the Americas; brave people fought to end it. In the Bible the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Today slavery is against the law, but forced labour still exists, and people campaign to stop it. Phrases: slave trade, free the slaves, slave away, a slave to…, slave driver (a boss who makes you work too hard).

examples

• The Israelites were slaves in Egypt. tree →
• Harriet Tubman helped many slaves escape to freedom. tree →
• It is wrong for any person to own another as a slave. tree →
• Mum slaved away in the kitchen all afternoon. tree →
• The slave trade was ended after a long campaign. tree →
• Don't be a slave to your phone! tree →
• Our coach is a real slave driver. tree →
• The slave went back to her mistress. tree →

note

Countable. Noun slavery (uncountable). Many historians prefer "enslaved people", to remind us they were people first. Informal "slave away" is light and jokey; use it carefully near real history.

In the corpora

• A famous drawing of the slave ship Brookes in 1788 showed this and helped turn British opinion against the trade.
• But the story of gems and metals also has a dark side: slaves, forced miners and wars paid for with stones.
• They called it democracy, rule by the people, though women, slaves and foreigners could not vote.
• In Athens women, slaves and foreigners could not vote.
• Olaudah Equiano, once enslaved, wrote his life story, and William Wilberforce argued in Parliament for years to end the slave trade.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «slave» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.