slavey

¹

[ sley-vee ]

noun

, British Informal: Older Use.

, plural slav·eys.

1. a female servant, especially a maid of all work in a boardinghouse.

Slavey

²

[ sley-vee ]

noun

, plural Slav·eys, (especially collectively) Slav·ey.

1. a member of a group of Athabascan-speaking First Nations living in the upper Mackenzie River valley region of the Northwest Territories and in parts of British Columbia, Alberta, and the Yukon Territory.

Slavey

¹

/ ˈsleɪvɪ /

noun

1. a member of a Dene Native Canadian people of northern Canada

slavey

²

/ ˈsleɪvɪ /

noun

1. informal.
   a female general servant

Word History and Origins

Origin of slavey¹

First recorded in 1800–10; slave + -y ²

Origin of slavey²

First recorded in 1785–80; from French esclave, literally, “slave,” a loan translation of Cree awahkān “captive, slave” (the Cree would make raids on and enslave this Athabascan people); the two-syllable pronunciation is a local variant derived from a spelling with the French suffix -ais

Word History and Origins

Origin of slavey¹

from Athapascan

Origin of slavey²

C19: from slave + -y ²

Example Sentences

“I thought I was among free men, not slaveys.”

From Literature

Well, don’t blame me if you find yourself still a slavey five years hence.”

From Project Gutenberg

They were the usual words that the slavey used when she dragged upstairs of an evening with his tea-things.

From Project Gutenberg

Wasp seemed to know that Annie was his own particular “slavey,” and insisted on her being constantly within hail of him.

From Project Gutenberg

At present her conversation was restricted to the man who bought her pictures, and the hard-worked, lodging-house slavey on the not too numerous occasions when she brought up the coals.

From Project Gutenberg