- navvy
- navvy (n.) "laborer on a canal or railroad," 1832, colloquial shortening of NAVIGATOR (Cf. navigator) (q.v.) in its sense of "one who digs navigation canals."
Etymology dictionary. 2014.
navvy
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Navvy — Nav vy, n.; pl. {Navies}. [Abbreviated fr. navigator.] Originally, a laborer on canals for internal navigation; hence, a laborer on other public works, as in building railroads, embankments, etc. [Eng.] [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
navvy — ► NOUN (pl. navvies) Brit. dated ▪ a labourer employed in the excavation and construction of a road or railway. ORIGIN abbreviation of NAVIGATOR(Cf. ↑navigator) in the former sense «builder of a navigation» (a dialect word for a canal) … English terms dictionary
navvy — [nav′ē] n. pl. navvies [abbrev. of NAVIGATOR] Brit. an unskilled laborer, as on canals, roads, etc … English World dictionary
Navvy — A navvy depicted in Ford Madox Brown s painting Work Navvy is a shorter form of navigator (UK) or navigational engineer (USA) and is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects. The term was… … Wikipedia
navvy — [[t]næ̱vi[/t]] navvies N COUNT A navvy is a person who is employed to do hard physical work, for example building roads or canals. [BRIT, OLD FASHIONED] ...a blackened young navvy, swinging a pickaxe in the sweating tunnel … English dictionary
navvy — UK [ˈnævɪ] / US noun [countable] Word forms navvy : singular navvy plural navvies British old fashioned someone whose job is to do hard physical work, for example build roads or dig railways … English dictionary
navvy — n British a manual labourer, unskilled construc tion worker or road digger. Navvy is a shortening of navigator , which was a nickname given to open air construc tion workers engaged in building roads, canals and railways in the late 18th and… … Contemporary slang
navvy — noun (plural navvies) Brit. dated a labourer employed in the excavation and construction of a road, railway, or canal. Word History Navvy is a shortening of navigator, which in the 18th century came to denote, as well as a sailor skilled in… … English new terms 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 … Useful english dictionary
navvy — noun (plural navvies) Etymology: by shortening & alteration from navigator construction worker on a canal Date: circa 1834 chiefly British an unskilled laborer … New Collegiate Dictionary
