Definition of "helot" [he•lot]

• One of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta, neither a slave nor a free citizen. (noun)
• A person in servitude; a serf. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The Palestinian American writer Rashid Khalidi uses the term "helot" (a term from the Greek of Ancient Greece to designate an indeterminate status between that of a slave and that of a citizen) to designate the position of Palestinian civilians who have neither civil rights nor any political opportunity to influence the behaviour of the state that dominates and controls their lives in endlessly demeaning and demoralising ways."
• "Bet the helot women had a somewhat different view of Sparta. heteromeles on Apr 24th, 2010 at 4: 59 pm"
• "And don't assume that supporters of mass immigration and amnesty care about the welfare of the helot class they want to import."