navvy

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: nav=vy

CIDE DICTIONARY

navvy, n. [Abbreviated fr. navigator.].

 Originally, a laborer on canals for internal navigation; hence, a laborer on other public works, as in building railroads, embankments, etc.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

navvy, n. & v. Brit.
--n. (pl. -ies) a labourer employed in building or excavating roads, canals, etc.
--v.intr. (-ies, -ied) work as a navvy.

Etymology

abbr. of NAVIGATOR

THESAURUS

navvy

blue-collar worker, breadwinner, casual, casual laborer, common laborer, day laborer, digger, dredge, dredger, driller, employee, excavator, factory worker, flunky, free lance, free-lancer, full-time worker, groundhog, hand, industrial worker, jobber, jobholder, laborer, laboring man, menial, migrant, miner, moiler, office temporary, proletarian, roustabout, salaried worker, sandhog, sapper, self-employed person, servant, steam shovel, stiff, temporary, toiler, tunneler, wage earner, wage slave, wageworker, worker, workgirl, workhand, working girl, workingman, workingwoman, workman

ROGET THESAURUS

navvy

Preparation

N preparation, providing, provision, providence, anticipation, precaution, preconcertation, predisposition, forecast, rehearsal, note of preparation, arrangement, clearance, adjustment, tuning, equipment, outfit, accouterment, armament, array, ripening, maturation, evolution, elaboration, concoction, digestion, gestation, batching, incubation, sitting, groundwork, first stone, cradle, stepping-stone, foundation, scaffold, scaffolding, echafaudage, training, inurement, novitiate, cooking, cookery, brewing, culinary art, tilling, plowing sowing, semination, cultivation, preparedness, readiness, ripeness, mellowness, maturity, un impromptu fait a loisir, preparer, trainer, pioneer, trailblazer, avant-courrier, avant-coureur, voortrekker, sappers and miners, pavior, navvy, packer, stevedore, warming pan, preparing, in preparation, in course of preparation, in agitation, in embryo, in hand, in train, afoot, afloat, on foot, on the stocks, on the anvil, under consideration, brewing, batching, forthcoming, brooding, in store for, in reserve, precautionary, provident, preparative, preparatory, provisional, inchoate, under revision, preliminary, prepared, in readiness, ready, ready to one's band, ready made, ready cut and dried: made to one's hand, handy, on the table, in gear, in working order, in working gear, snug, in practice, ripe, mature, mellow, pukka, practiced, labored, elaborate, highly-wrought, smelling of the lamp, worked up, in full feather, in best bib and tucker, in harness, at harness, in the saddle, in arms, in battle array, in war paint, up in arms, armed at all points, armed to the teeth, armed cap a pie, sword in hand, booted and spurred, in utrumque paratus, semper paratus, on the alert, at one's post, in preparation, in anticipation of, against, for, abroach, a bove majori discit arare minor, looking before and after, si vis pacem para bellum.

Agent

N doer, actor, agent, performer, perpetrator, operator, executor, executrix, practitioner, worker, stager, bee, ant, working bee, termite, white ant, laboring oar, servant of all work, factotum, workman, artisan, craftsman, handicraftsman, mechanic, operative, working man, laboring man, demiurgus, hewers of wood and drawers of water, laborer, navvy, hand, man, day laborer, journeyman, charwoman, hack, mere tool, beast of burden, drudge, fag, lumper, roustabout, maker, artificer, artist, wright, manufacturer, architect, builder, mason, bricklayer, smith, forger, Vulcan, carpenter, ganger, platelayer, blacksmith, locksmith, sailmaker, wheelwright, machinist, mechanician, engineer, sempstress, semstress, seamstress, needlewoman, workwoman, tailor, cordwainer, minister, servant, representative, coworker, party to, participator in, particeps criminis, dramatis personae, personnel, quorum pars magna fui, faber est quisque fortunae suae.