Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SLAVE-RY, n. [See Slave.]

1. Bondage; the state of entire subjection of one person to the will of another. Slavery is the obligation to labor for the benefit of the master, without the contract or consent of the servant. – Paley. Slavery may proceed from crimes, from captivity, or from debt. Slavery is also voluntary or involuntary; voluntary, when a person sells or yields his own person to the absolute command of another; involuntary, when he is placed under the absolute power of another without his own consent. Slavery no longer exists in Great Britain, nor in the northern states of America.
2. The offices of a slave; drudgery.