Galley slave Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a slave condemned to row in a galley
  2. noun a laborer who is obliged to do menial work
    peon; navvy; drudge.

WordNet


Definitions
  1. a person condemned, often as a punishment for crime, to work at the oar on board a galley. "To toil like a galley slave." Macaulay.

Webster 1913