Meanings
slaver1
present singular third person slavers · participle present slavering · participle past slavered · past slavered
- intransitiveTo fawn.
- intransitiveTo be drooled out of someone’s mouth.
A fearsome sight it was to behold how he swelled in his wrath, and his eyes blazed like disastrous stars at midnight, and being wood with anger he gnashed his teeth till the froth stood at his lips and slavered down his chin.
1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 27 - transitiveTo smear with saliva issuing from the mouth.
- To be besmeared with saliva.
should I, damn'd then, / Slaver with lips as common as the stairs / That mount the Capitol
c. 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, act 1, scene 7
- uncountableSaliva running from the mouth; drool.
Of all mad Creatures, if the Learn'd are right, / It is the Slaver kills, and not the Bite.
1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 6, lines 101–1021 more example
He went over to it, held it in his hands awhile, feeling its coolness, smelling the clammy slaver of the lather in which the brush was stuck.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
slaver2
plural slavers
- A person engaged in the slave trade; a person who buys, sells, transports, or owns slaves.
The continued fight between abolitionists and slavers in Missouri caused slave owners to refuge slaves to the Confederate interior. But some Union forces that made salients into rebel territory insisted that the slaves were “contraband” […]
2013, John Christgau, Incident at the Otterville Station: A Civil War Story of Slavery and Rescue, U of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 251 more example
You were raised on Mindoir on the fringes of the Attican Traverse. When you were sixteen, the colony was raided by slavers. The entire settlement was razed and your friends and family were slaughtered. A passing Alliance patrol rescued you, but all you loved was destroyed.
2007, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, scene: Codex → Secondary → Personal History Summary → Profile (Colonist pre-service history)- A white slaver; a person who sells prostitutes into sexual slavery.
- nauticalA ship used to transport slaves.
The Gulnare was a fast sailer, built for a slaver originally[.]
1887, Mrs. Dominic D. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 141 more example
Somewhat unsurprisingly, unleashing the most powerful navy on the planet with carte blanche to exterminate slavers on sight saw a dramatic and sudden collapse in slaver numbers in the late 1840s and early 1850s.
2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 10:12 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2024
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
slaver · verb, noun
- Old Norseslafra“to slaver”
- Middle Englishslaveren
- Englishslaver
From Middle English slaveren, from Old Norse slafra (“to slaver”), probably imitative. Doublet of slabber.
More words from Middle English, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →slaver · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱlewH-der.?
- Proto-Slavic*slov-
- Proto-Slavic*Slov-?
- Proto-Slavic*slověninъ
- Ancient GreekΣκλαβηνός (Sklabēnós)
- Medieval GreekΣκλᾰ́βος (Sklắbos)
- Late LatinSclavus
- Medieval Latinsclavus
- Old Frenchesclave
- Middle Englishsclave
- Englishslave
- Englishslaver
From slave (“enslave, traffic in slaves”) + -er.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek σωματέμπορος, ἀνδραποδιστής
- σωματέμπορος (sōmatémporos)a person engaged in the slave trade
- ἀνδραποδιστής (andrapodistḗs)a person engaged in the slave trade
Arabic نَخَّاس
- نَخَّاس (naḵḵās)a person engaged in the slave trade
Bulgarian лигавя се, кораб превозващ роби
- лигавя се (ligavja se)to drool saliva
- кораб превозващ роби (korab prevozvašt robi)slave ship
- търговец на роби (tărgovec na robi)a person engaged in the slave trade
Chinese Cantonese 流口水
- 流口水 (lau⁴ hau² seoi²)to drool saliva
Chinese Mandarin 流口水
- 流口水 (liú kǒushuǐ)to drool saliva
Czech slintat, slinit
- slintatto drool saliva
- slinitto drool saliva
Danish savle
- savleto drool saliva
Dutch kwijlen, zabberen
- kwijlento drool saliva
- zabberento drool saliva
- slavenhalerslave ship
- slavenschipslave ship
- slavenhandelaara person engaged in the slave trade
Finnish kuolata, orjalaiva
- kuolatato drool saliva
- orjalaivaslave ship
- orjakauppiasa person engaged in the slave trade
French baver, navire d'esclaves
- baverto drool saliva
- navire d'esclavesslave ship
- marchand d'esclavesa person engaged in the slave trade
- esclavagistea person engaged in the slave trade
- négriera person engaged in the slave trade
- négrièrea person engaged in the slave trade
German sabbern, geifern
- sabbernto drool saliva
- geifernto drool saliva
- Sklavenhändlera person engaged in the slave trade
- Sklavenhändlerina person engaged in the slave trade
- Sklavenhaltera person engaged in the slave trade
- Sklavenhalterina person engaged in the slave trade
Greek δουλέμπορος
- δουλέμπορος (doulémporos)a person engaged in the slave trade
Italian sbavare, schiavista
- sbavareto drool saliva
- schiavistaa person engaged in the slave trade
- negrieroa person engaged in the slave trade
- negrierea person engaged in the slave trade
- negrieraa person engaged in the slave trade
Japanese 涎が出る
- 涎が出る (yodare ga deru)to drool saliva
Latin mango
- mangoa person engaged in the slave trade
Māori hāwareware
- hāwarewareto drool saliva
Polish ślinić się, statek niewolniczy
- ślinić sięto drool saliva
- statek niewolniczyslave ship
- handlarz niewolnikówa person engaged in the slave trade
Portuguese babar, escravista
- babarto drool saliva
- escravistaa person engaged in the slave trade
- negreiroa person engaged in the slave trade
- negreiraa person engaged in the slave trade
Russian работорго́вец, торго́вец раба́ми
- работорго́вец (rabotorgóvec)a person engaged in the slave trade
- торго́вец раба́ми (torgóvec rabámi)a person engaged in the slave trade
Spanish esclavista, negrero
- esclavistaa person engaged in the slave trade
- negreroa person engaged in the slave trade
- negreraa person engaged in the slave trade
Swedish slavskepp, slavhandlare
- slavskeppslave ship
- slavhandlarea person engaged in the slave trade
Turkish esirci
- esircia person engaged in the slave trade
Ukrainian работорго́вець, торго́вець раба́ми
- работорго́вець (rabotorhóvecʹ)a person engaged in the slave trade
- торго́вець раба́ми (torhóvecʹ rabámy)a person engaged in the slave trade
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with slaver
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
slaver. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slaver
“slaver.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slaver. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “slaver,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slaver.
Source: slaver on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.