Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which an individual is under contract to work without a salary for a certain timeframe to repay a loan. The dictionary definition of "coolie" is simply "a hired laborer.Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. This research guide provides lists of resources and search strategies to help you discover materials related to early American papers of indenture. INDENTURE meaning: 1. (in the past) to officially agree that someone, often a young person, will work for someone…. Many workers in colonial North America were indentured servants — people who signed con- tracts stating they would work for up to seven. European indentured servants traded their labor for a period of four to seven years in exchange for passage to North America, as well as room and board. Indentured servants existed somewhere between the enslaved and servants. Servants usually worked as farm laborers or domestic servants completing manual labor.