indentured servant
nounDefinition of indentured servant
: a person who signs and is bound by indentures to work for another for a specified time especially in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance
Examples of indentured servant in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The fae work in lowly occupations, often as indentured servants to work off the cost of their passage to safety. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Review: Carnival Row brings a richly textured fantasy world to vibrant life," 3 Sep. 2019 By the end of the 17th century, the colonies’ reliance on indentured servants had shifted toward that of enslaved African people. — National Geographic, "400 years ago, enslaved Africans first arrived in Virginia," 13 Aug. 2019 Logan fixed the problem; Kendall is now, more or less, his indentured servant. — Troy Patterson, The New Yorker, "The Second Season of “Succession” Digs Into the Characters’ Self-Loathing," 14 Aug. 2019 Mary’s mother probably was an indentured servant from England, like 80 percent of all free women who immigrated to the Chesapeake at that time. — Marjoleine Kars, Washington Post, "Widow, slaveholder, mother of our first president," 25 July 2019 According to the National Women’s History Museum, her parents were impoverished, their circumstances so dire that Sampson was bound as an indentured servant until the age of 18. — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, "Diary Sheds Light on Deborah Sampson, Who Fought in the Revolutionary War," 2 July 2019 Instead, the law subjected them to the far harsher provisions of Chapter 13, effectively turning borrowers into indentured servants of institutions like the credit card companies headquartered in Delaware. — Andrew Cockburn, Harper's magazine, "No Joe!," 10 June 2019 Individuals who sign up live in prison-like accommodations, eat scraps, and work as indentured servants for the rest of their lives. — Jason Parham, WIRED, "Sorry to Bother You: A Dizzying Satire That Hungers for Truth," 7 July 2018 So the indentured servants and other migrants from England had a brief but strong influence on Sranan. — Nicole Creanza, Scientific American, "How People Talk Now Holds Clues about Human Migration Centuries Ago," 4 Mar. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'indentured servant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more