v. [f. BE- 5 + SLAVE.]
1. trans. To make a slave of, enslave. lit. and fig.
1615. Bp. Hall, Contemp. N. T., IV. iv. 198. He that … hath beslaved himself to a bewitching beauty.
1645. Quarles, Sol. Recant., IV. 51. Or if thy droyling hand should once beslave Thy glorious freedome.
2. To address as a slave, to call ‘slave.’
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Wks., II. 158/1. I will not rayle, or rogue thee, or be-slaue thee.
1713. Addison, Guardian, No. 153. He is now chiding and beslaving the emmet that stands before him.
3. To fill with slaves, pollute with slavery.
1862. J. Spence, Amer. Union, 246. Texas would not have been annexed and beslaved.
Hence Beslaved ppl. a., Beslaving vbl. sb.
1656. S. H., Gold. Law, 54. Redeeming of many poor beslaved souls.
1641. Ld. Digby, Sp. in Ho. Com., 19 Jan., 16. Our beslaving since the Petition of Right.
