assigned servant

Noun

 * 1)  A convict assigned to work as a servant for a free settler (either a male or female convict, and either a male or female settler).

Usage notes

 * The term was considered an insult in early colonial Australia (reference:, The Fatal Shore, 1987, paperback ISBN 1-86046-150-6, page xi.). Assigned servant was one of several euphemisms; see  for others.