slave driver

noun

plural slave drivers
1
: someone who is in charge of making enslaved people work
2
disapproving, sometimes offensive : someone who makes people work very hard
He was a slave driver at work.

Examples of slave driver in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The woman gives the girls two vials of concoctions, one for the zombie and one for the slave driver. Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 18 July 2021 Brandon’s boss arrives at the meeting trying to stop the whole thing and the girls realize this guy is the slave driver. Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 18 July 2021 Charles Deslondes, a slave driver of Haitian descent, marshaled an insurrection against the slaver Manuel Andry, turning the tools of the plantation—the axe, the sugar cane knife—against his master. Kandist Mallett, The New Republic, 18 Jan. 2021 What kind of man would say that if God demands a drop of blood in battle for every drop spilled by the slave driver’s whip, well, the judgments of the Lord are right and true? Michael D. Capaldi, National Review, 24 Oct. 2020 In a federal lawsuit filed on his behalf by civil attorneys in late 2015, Smith compared Edwards to a slave driver. Michael Brice-Saddler, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'slave driver.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1788, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of slave driver was in 1788

Dictionary Entries Near slave driver

Cite this Entry

“Slave driver.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slave%20driver. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

slave driver

noun
1
: a supervisor of slaves at work
2
: a harsh boss

More from Merriam-Webster on slave driver

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