slave driver
5
7.5
- noun
- /sleɪv ˈdraɪvər/
- Offensive
:
explotador
- Many of the workers complained about their boss, who was a harsh slave driver that pushed them to their limits.
Examples
-
I'm not a slave driver, after all.
Fiction book (1996) -
He's a slave driver.
-
But she was a slave driver.
-
We need help, not a slave driver.
Blog text (15) -
- Your grandmother is a slave driver!
-
You're an absolute slave driver!
Blog text (5) -
He was a bully and a slave driver to those who had the misfortune to work for him.
Fiction book (2001) -
The manager is known as a slave driver because he expects his team to work late every day.
-
In her quest for perfection, she became a slave driver to her employees, demanding the highest output.
Synonyms
33
7.5
A person who has power and treats people cruelly or unfairly
8
7.2
A strict person who makes other people work very hard
1
7.5
A person who forces others to work very hard and treats them badly
How Harsh
Surface Forms
Morphology
slave + driver
A learner who knows 'slave' (a person forced to work) and 'driver' (one who drives or forces movement) can plausibly infer that a 'slave driver' is someone who forces others to work very hard; the core idea is compositional. However, the usage is metaphorical/idiomatic (applied to bosses who are not literal slave-owners) so the exact pragmatic nuance and negative connotation are not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Slave driver comes from the literal image of a slave and a driver — a person who forced slaves to work, often by harsh control. That's why today slave driver is used for someone who 'makes others work very hard, often in a harsh way'.