plural chattels
1
: an item of tangible movable or immovable property except real estate and things (such as buildings) connected with real property
These statutes do not apply to personal property; for chattels, an oral statement of donative intent plus delivery still suffices.—William M. McGovern, Jr. et al.
—sometimes used as a mass nounThe program takes advantage of a New Hampshire law that requires all manufactured homes … to be titled as real property instead of chattel, said Patrick McCarthy, Fannie Mae vice president for community lending.—Brad Finkelstein
2
: an enslaved person held as the legal property of another : bondman
He had struck down my personality, had subjected me to his will, made property of my body and soul, reduced me to a chattel …—Frederick Douglass
Some, most notably the Quakers, hoped that moral suasion would convince slaveholders to free their chattels.—Mary Beth Norton et al.
—often used as a mass noun… [George] Washington is tainted by our country's original sin: slavery. He owned other human beings as chattel.—Robert Schlesinger
Ultimately, the book illuminates both the tragedy of holding human chattel and the corruption that flows from such inhumanity.—Melba Newsome
see also chattel slavery
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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