(chiefly historical)a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them (主史)奴隶 ■a person who works very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation 苦工,奴仆 by the time I was ten, I had become her slave, doing all the housework. 我十岁时成了她的奴仆,做所有的家务活。 ■a person who is excessively dependent upon or controlled by something 奴隶般受控制的人 the poorest people of the world are slaves to the banks. 世界上最穷的人是银行的奴隶。 she was no slave to fashion. 她不跟着时髦走。 ■a device, or part of one, directly controlled by another 从动装置。 比较master [as modifier]a slave cassette deck. 一个从动盒式录音机。
verb
[noobj.]work excessively hard 奴隶般工作,拼命工作 after slaving away for fourteen years all he gets is two thousand. 在做牛做马地工作14年之后,他所得到的只是2,000元。 ■[with obj.]subject (a device) to control by another 使(装置)从属于(另一装置) should the need arise, the two channels can be slaved together. 假如有必要,这两个频道可以从动控制。
语源
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 cent