Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A person who does menial or repetitive tasks and has a low rank in an organization or society.
- noun An unskilled laborer or farm worker of Latin America or the southwest United States.
- noun Such a worker bound in servitude to a landlord creditor.
- noun In India and other parts of South and Southeast Asia, a person of menial position, especially a messenger, servant, or foot soldier.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A day-laborer; specifically, in Spanish America, a species of serf, compelled to work for his creditor until his debts are paid.
- noun In India: A foot-soldier.
- noun A messenger; an attendant or orderly.
- noun A native constable or policeman.
- noun In chess, a piece representing a footman; a pawn.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun See
poon . - noun India A foot soldier; a policeman; also, an office attendant; a messenger.
- noun A day laborer; a servant; especially, in some of the Spanish American countries, debtor held by his creditor in a form of qualified servitude, to work out a debt.
- noun (Chess) See 2d
Pawn .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
lowly person, apeasant orserf , a labourer who is obliged to do menial work
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a laborer who is obliged to do menial work
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In the USA peon is a demeaning term, but not in Mexico.
House Progress 2005
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In the USA peon is a demeaning term, but not in Mexico.
House Progress 2005
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The peon is an Indian, and a Mexican Indian at that.
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Either the peon is different from the American, or land hunger is one thing to the one and another thing to the other.
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After thus tantalizing me and taking my measure, he called a peon, whom I found to be an easy boss, and I was placed beside himself digging and shoveling, took his gait, which was much more easy than the Southern darkey.
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Unfortunately, some idiot schmuck McCain/Palin peon underpaid, overworked employee at the County Recorder managed to enter my address incorrectly, and now I’m supposed to show up to vote in a totally new and different location, where my registration could quite possibly be challenged because it doesn’t match my ID.
ALERT! Verify your voter registration status! « A Bird’s Nest 2008
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Unfortunately, some idiot schmuck McCain/Palin peon underpaid, overworked employee at the County Recorder managed to enter my address incorrectly, and now I’m supposed to show up to vote in a totally new and different location, where my registration could quite possibly be challenged because it doesn’t match my ID.
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Desmond fancied he saw a slight smile curl the lips of the natives; then the sentry called another peon who stood at hand, and sent him into the palace.
In Clive's Command A Story of the Fight for India Herbert Strang
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They went out and when they entered the first shed the Spaniard called a peon and gave him an order Dick did not catch.
Brandon of the Engineers Harold Bindloss 1905
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Although I'm cringing at the term 'peon' and wish you'd have used a different word ... maybe a more modern one ...
moving on down 2006
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