navvy

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

Pronunciation: /ˈnævi/

Etymology: Clipping of navigator, in reference to the navigation canals upon which these workers first toiled, + -y.

A laborer on a civil engineering project such as a canal or railroad.
“Suppose two lads, fresh from school, go out into the world to earn their living; one becomes a navvy and one a clerk. In five years' time these two young men will probably be very different in appearance from one another. The navvy will have developed his muscles; he will be broad-built, broad-chested, and strong.”
“His proper trade's a navvy; and he works at it sometimes too—for exercise—and earns good money at it.”
an unskilled laborer

Etymology: Clipping of navigator, in reference to the navigation canals upon which these workers first toiled, + -y.

To carry out physical labor on a civil engineering project.
“But by pretending to believe he's navvied before, I've given him double reason to drive himself hard.”
“Before my time of navvying I believe the times were still worse.”