thrall

SayTHRAWL/θɹɔl/UK/θɹɔːl/

Pluralthralls (some meanings)

Verbthralls, thralling, thralled

5 meanings of thrall

1
in someone's powernoununcountable
Being under someone else's power or control.
The workers were in thrall to the factory owner, who controlled their homes and their pay.
The old queen held the whole court in thrall.
Similarbondage, slavery, servitude, subjection
Oppositefreedom, liberty
Note
2
controlled personnouncountable or uncountable
A slave, or a person who must obey someone else.
In the old story, the hero is sold as a thrall to a cruel king.
She did not want to be a thrall to her phone anymore.
Similarslave, serf, bondsman
Oppositemaster, freeman
Note
3
verbtransitive
To make a person a slave.
The pirates thralled the sailors they caught.
The evil wizard wanted to thrall the whole kingdom.
Similarenslave
Oppositefree, liberate
Note

Less common meanings

4
adjectivearchaic
Kept as a prisoner or slave, not free.
The soldiers would rather die than live thrall to their enemy.
The giant kept the children thrall in his castle.
Note
5
noun
A shelf; a stand for barrels, etc.

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–2, 4

From an Old Norse word meaning “slave,” from an older word meaning “runner” or “servant.”

Meaning 3

From the noun thrall.