Definition of a slave according to various lexica
A person who is considered to be the personal property of his owner. In some societies, such as Ancient Greece and Ancient Persia, the treatment of slaves was strictly controlled by law. In most cases, however, a slave was considered as an object and his owner could treat him as he wanted.
Webster’s 1913 Dictionary
1. A person who is held in servitude; one who is
wholly subject to the will of another; one who is held as
a chattel; one who has no freedom of action, but whose
person and services are wholly under the control of
another.
2. One who has lost the power of resistance; one who
surrenders himself to any power whatever.
3. A drudge; one who labors like a slave.
4. An abject person; a wretch. –Shak.
slave
One bound in servitude as the property of a person or household.
One who is abjectly subservient to a specified person or influence.
One who works extremely hard.
slave
adj : held in servitude; “he was born of slave parents”
[syn: slave(a)] [ant: free]1: a person who is owned by someone
2: someone who works as hard as a slave [syn: striver, hard worker]3: someone entirely dominated by some influence or person.
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University
Slavery has been with us from the beginning of recorded history. It was present in ancient Sumeria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It existed in the Middle Ages and even in modern times in lands that professed themselves to be Christian.
While nowhere is slavery legally endorsed, research conducted under the auspices of the United Nations shows that there are more slaves in the world now than at any other time in history. In the Roman Empire every year about half a million persons were enslaved. In the course of 350 years 13 million slaves were brought to North America from Africa. Today there are about 200 million slaves in the world. It is most likely that slavery will continue to the end of human history as it has existed from the beginning.
Slavery has more than one cause and more than one variety. Some were prisoners of war. Others were kidnapped. In some cases slavery was imposed as a punishment for grave crimes and debts. Some have been sold into slavery, or even sold themselves. Some slaves were born into the condition of slavery, especially when born of a mother who was a slave. The status of the slave was most precisely defined in Roman law. The slave was not a legal subject with any rights under the civil law. He was treated as if he were nobody and had no legal capacity.
The slave was under the dominion of his owner who had power over his life and death. The slave possessed no private property, and what he acquired was acquired for his master. The slave could be bought and sold against his will. Although slavery was widespread, ancient thinkers recognized that there was no basis for slavery in the natural law. While it had no basis in the natural law, the institution of slavery was supported in the law of the nations (“ius gentium”).
Roman law defined a slave as one who is the movable property or chattel of another man.
Slavery
Slavery is servitude, whether enforced by violence or by other methods or voluntarily entered by a person, but in either case definite for the slave. Once entered it cannot be revoked by the slave, only a release by his owner can set a slave free again. It is sometimes an expectation associated with other relationships, such as marriage and other relations, military service or work.
Definition
The 1926 Slavery Convention describes slavery as “…the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised…”
The modern conception of slavery is simply that of an individual whose movements (and usually most of their activities) are under the total control of another. The slave is the one who cannot leave without explicit permission, and who will be returned to the ‘owner’ or ‘master’ or overseer or controller if they stray or escape. Typically this is today accomplished through tacit arrangements with local police and other authorities – by masters with some hold over them, or status as landowners or other wealth.
In the most common conception of slavery, one person is treated as the chattel property of another person, providing slave labour from birth to death. This is not the most common relation in modern slavery. Capture of modern slaves is normally accomplished by deception or fraud – but also voluntary servitude is nowadays found amongst especially the hardcore sexscene.
Slavery in Medieval Europe
Slaves (especially from Slavic countries) were traded, mainly in Prague. Sold by Christians, transported by Jews and then bought in Muslim empires.
The institution of serfdom in medieval Europe was weaker than chattel slavery; serfs were obligated to serve or work the land for their master, but were not chattel property. Serfdom was reintroduced in Eastern Europe in 16th and 17th century and persisted until the mid-19th century. It was abolsihed by Kingdom of Prussia in 1811/1823, Austria in 1848 and in Russia by czars Alexander II act of emancipation the serfs in 1861/1864.
Slavery was common and widespread throughout Africa into the 19th century. The Dutch imported slaves from Asia into their colony in South Africa. Britain, which held vast colonial territories on the continent (including South Africa), made the practice of slavery illegal in these regions.
In some slave societies, slaves were protected and almost incorporated into the slave owning family. In others, slaves were brutally abused, and even used for human sacrifices.
Dictionary.com
slave
noun
a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another and forced to provide unpaid labor.
a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person
verb (used without object), slaved, slav·ing.
to work like a slave; drudge.to engage in the slave trade; procure, transport, or sell slaves.
verb (used with object), slaved, slav·ing.
slave
(slāv)n.
1. One who is owned as the property of someone else, especially in involuntary servitude.
2. One who is subservient to or controlled by another: his boss’s slave.
3. One who is subject to or controlled by a specified influence
4. One who works extremely hard.
5. One who acts out the role of the submissive partner in a sadomasochistic relationship.
intr.v.
slaved, slav·ing, slaves1.
To work very hard or doggedly; toil.
Oxford Dictionary
slave (sleɪv)
NOUN
1 historical A person who is the legal property of another and is forced to work for and obey them; an enslaved person.
1.1 A person who works very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation.
1.2 A person who is excessively dependent upon or controlled
VERB
1 no object
Work excessively hard.
2 with object
Subject to control by another.
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.
Collins Dictionary
1. COUNTABLE NOUN
A slave is someone who is the property of another person and has to work for that person.
2. COUNTABLE NOUN
You can describe someone as a slave when they are completely under the control of another person or of a powerful influence.