galley slave
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈɡæli sleɪv/
- Offensive
:
esclavo de galera
- He owns the best stock in the colony and he works like a galley slave.
Examples
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Oh, find out how many men we have in camp who were galley slaves or sailors.
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I was a galley slave with them.
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You were a galley slave.
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Remember he is one of the galley slaves that no Quixote set free.
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ILDERIM : How long were you a galley slave?
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Barbarossa's brother served for a time as a galley slave to the Knights of St. John.
Academic text (2009) -
The oars were shipped; the galley slaves could catch up on their relaxation while the wind held.
Fiction book (1994) -
"I put in ten, twelve hours a day in Baltimore, then come down here and sweat like a goddamn galley slave in the boatyard.
Fiction book (1999) -
He also notes that while he was at sea as a galley slave, his head and beard were shaved every eight to ten days.
Academic text (2015) -
In ancient times, a galley slave had to row for hours under harsh conditions and without pay.
Synonyms
292
4.7
A person controlled by something, for example work or technology
19
9.4
A person in the Middle Ages who must work a lord's land and cannot leave
13
8.5
A person who does low-paid, unskilled work
7
8.1
A person who does hard, dull, repetitive work
A person forced to work without pay for someone else
A man who is forced to work for another person and has no freedom
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is transparently built from 'galley' (an oared ship) + 'slave' (a person forced to work), so a learner who knows both words can readily infer a person enslaved to row a galley. The figurative extension to someone forced to do very hard or menial work is also predictable from this literal image and follows normal noun–noun compositional patterns.
Etymology
Galley slave comes from old ships called galleys, where slaves were chained to benches and forced to row for long hours. That strong picture explains why we now use 'galley slave' for 'someone forced to do very hard, boring work'.