slavey

slavey

See also: Slavey

English

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Slavic *slověninъder.
Byzantine Greek Σκλᾰ́βος (Sklắbos)der.
Late Latin Sclavus
Medieval Latin sclavusbor.
Old French esclavebor.
Middle English sclave
English slave
English -y
English slavey

    From slave + -y.

    Pronunciation

    • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈsleɪvi/
    • Rhymes: -eɪvi

    Noun

    slavey (plural slaveys or slavies)

    1. (colloquial, historical) A male servant.
    2. (colloquial, historical) A female domestic servant; a maid or maidservant.
      • 1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not… (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 81:
        I told a man on the links yesterday that I'd been a slavey for nine months. I was trying to explain why I was a suffragette […]
      • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 82:
        "Doing? Not a Dam' thing. I mean, I was sitting on the bed lighting a cigarette. We'd just come upstairs. Everything was all right; old Peabody in Sydney and the slavey given a night off to go to the pictures."
      • 1887, Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House, Norman L. Munro, published 1887, page 12:
        "The short-haired slavey who had opened the door now put in an appearance as waiter."

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