slavey

See also: Slavey

English

Etymology

From slave +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsleɪvi/
• Rhymes: -eɪvi

Noun

slavey (plural slaveys or slavies)

1. (colloquial, historical) A male servant.
2. (colloquial, historical) A female domestic servant; a maid or maidservant.
   • 1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not… (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 81:

     I told a man on the links yesterday that I'd been a slavey for nine months. I was trying to explain why I was a suffragette […]

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 82:

     "Doing? Not a Dam' thing. I mean, I was sitting on the bed lighting a cigarette. We'd just come upstairs. Everything was all right; old Peabody in Sydney and the slavey given a night off to go to the pictures."

   • 1887, Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House, Norman L. Munro, published 1887, page 12:

     "The short-haired slavey who had opened the door now put in an appearance as waiter."

Anagrams

• sylvae, Leyvas, LaVeys, Laveys, Alveys, Leavys, Levays