indentured, ppl. a.
(ɪnˈdɛntjʊəd)
[f. indenture v. + -ed1.]
1. Bound by indentures, esp. as an apprentice or servant.
| 1757 in W. Thompson R.N. Advoc. 6 George Woods, Eastcheap, Indentured Master. 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (ed. 3) III. 241 An attorney at Oxford, who..consented to receive me as his indentured clerk. 1808 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XXVI. 111 Indentured bond-slaves are shipped from Liverpool and Glasgow, for Canada, and independent North-America, in considerable numbers. 1882 Daily News 17 Mar. 5/3 The employment of indentured labourers [coolies] from India. 1952 S. Selvon Brighter Sun v. 72 He had come from India to work as an indentured labourer on the white man's plantations. 1961 [see East Indian n. 2]. 1969 S. M. Sadeek Windswept & Other Stories 29 My grand parents were indentured immigrants, never-the-less pioneers. |
2. Indented, having the border incised.
| 1885 Pall Mall G. 17 Apr. 6/1 The three towns on the densely timbered, deeply indentured Vancouver Island. |