Search Result for "slave trade":
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

1. traffic in slaves; especially in Black Africans transported to America in the 16th to 19th centuries;
[syn: slave trade, slave traffic]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Slave \Slave\ (sl[=a]v), n. [Cf. F. esclave, D. slaaf, Dan. slave, sclave, Sw. slaf, all fr. G. sklave, MHG. also slave, from the national name of the Slavonians, or Sclavonians (in LL. Slavi or Sclavi), who were frequently made slaves by the Germans. See Slav.] 1. A person who is held in bondage to another; one who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who is held as a chattel; one who has no freedom of action, but whose person and services are wholly under the control of another. [1913 Webster] Art thou our slave, Our captive, at the public mill our drudge? --Milton. [1913 Webster] 2. One who has lost the power of resistance; one who surrenders himself to any power whatever; as, a slave to passion, to lust, to strong drink, to ambition. [1913 Webster] 3. A drudge; one who labors like a slave. [1913 Webster] 4. An abject person; a wretch. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Slave ant (Zool.), any species of ants which is captured and enslaved by another species, especially Formica fusca of Europe and America, which is commonly enslaved by Formica sanguinea. Slave catcher, one who attempted to catch and bring back a fugitive slave to his master. Slave coast, part of the western coast of Africa to which slaves were brought to be sold to foreigners. Slave driver, one who superintends slaves at their work; hence, figuratively, a cruel taskmaster. Slave hunt. (a) A search after persons in order to reduce them to slavery. --Barth. (b) A search after fugitive slaves, often conducted with bloodhounds. Slave ship, a vessel employed in the slave trade or used for transporting slaves; a slaver. Slave trade, the business of dealing in slaves, especially of buying them for transportation from their homes to be sold elsewhere. Slave trader, one who traffics in slaves. [1913 Webster] Syn: Bond servant; bondman; bondslave; captive; henchman; vassal; dependent; drudge. See Serf. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

slave trade n 1: traffic in slaves; especially in Black Africans transported to America in the 16th to 19th centuries [syn: slave trade, slave traffic]
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

SLAVE TRADE, criminal law. The infamous traffic in human flesh, which though not prohibited by the law of nations, is now forbidden by the laws and treaties of most civilized states. 2. By the constitution of the United States, art. 1, s. 9, it is provided, that the "migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing (in 1789,) shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the congress, prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight." Previously to that date several laws were enacted, which it is not within the plan of this work to cite at large or to analyze; they are here referred to, namely; act of 1794, c. 11, 1 Story's laws U. S. 319; act of 1800, c. 51, 1 Story's Laws U. S. 780 act of 1803, c. 63, 2 Story's Laws U. S 886; act of 1807, c. 77, 2 Story's Laws U. S. 1050; these several acts forbid citizens of the United States, under certain circumstances, to equip or build vessels for the purpose of carrying on the slave trade, and the last mentioned act makes it highly penal to import slaves into the United States after the first day of January, 1808. The act of 1818, c. 86, 3 Story's Laws U. S. 1698 the act of 1819, c. 224, 3 Story's Laws U. S. 1752; and the act of 1820, c. 113, 3 Story's Laws U. S. 1798, contain further prohibition of the slave trade, and punish tho violation of their several provisions with the highest penalties of the law. Vide, generally, 10 Wheat. R. 66; 2 Mason, R. 409; 1 Acton, 240; 1 Dodson, 81, 91, 95; 2 Dodson, 238; 6 Mass. R. 358; 2 Cranch, 336; 3 Dall. R. 297; 1 Wash. C. C. Rep. 522; 4 Id. 91; 3 Mason, R. 175; 9 Wheat. R. 391; 6 Cranch, 330; 5 Wheat. R. 338; 8 Id. 380; 10 Id. 312; 1 Kent, Com. 191.