slavery

Etymology 1

From slave + -ery.

noun

1. An institution or social practice of owning human beings as property, especially for use as forced laborers.
   THAT the Constitution does not confer upon Congress power to interfere with slavery in the States, has been admitted by all parties and confirmed by all judicial decisions ever since the origin of the Federal Government. This doctrine was emphatically recognized by the House of Representatives in the days of Washington, during the first session of the first Congress,* and has never since been seriously called in question. Hence, it became necessary for the abolitionists, in order to furnish a pretext for their assaults on Southern slavery, to appeal to a law higher than the Constitution. Slavery, according to them, was a grievous sin against God, and therefore no human Constitution could rightfully shield it from destruction. It was sinful to live in a political confederacy which tolerated slavery in any of the States composing it;… 1866, James Buchanan, Mr. Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion, New York: D. Appleton and Company, →OCLC, →OL, page 9
   Thus Django becomes the carrier of the “public use of one's reason”—the Kantian road to enlightenment given to him by the German “Forty-Eighter” dentist–turned-bounty hunter Dr. “King” Schultz, and represents the fictive, allohistorical beginning of the battle against slavery and racism in the United States. 31 July 2014, Oliver C. Speck, editor, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained: The Continuation of Metacinema, Bloomsbury, page 25
2. Forced labor in general, regardless of legality.
3. A condition of servitude endured by a slave.
   Our victories on Voeld are only the beginning of what we can achieve, but we can't defeat the enemy without your help. If you're tired of living in fear, if you believe we were meant for something greater than slavery, if you're willing to stand up and fight: you'll find a new family in the Resistance. 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: The Resistance Needs Volunteers
4. (figurative) A condition in which one is captivated or subjugated, as by greed or drugs.
   Man seeks for gold in mines that he may weave / A lasting chain for his own slavery. 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam, canto 8, stanza 16

Etymology 2

slaver + -y

adj

1. Covered in slaver; slobbery.
   The giant snow bear, the wolf with slavery jaws or the claws of the silent great cats were all a part. Creatures of man's oldest nightmares were the other side of that face. 2014, Lisa Williamson, Echoes of Elder Times Collection