US /ˈsleɪ.vi/ UK /ˈsleɪ.vi/
noun Freq #168877

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    dated, informal, and often offensive: a female domestic servant who performs general or menial household work

    The novel portrays the exhausted slavey carrying coal and scrubbing the floors.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · dated, informal, and often... maid of all workdomestic servantdrudge
Word family
Related forms maidservantskivvyhousemaid

Etymology

Formed in nineteenth-century British English from slave + -y. The term likens a poorly treated general servant to an enslaved person and is now dated and liable to offend.

Topics

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