navvy


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Related to navvy: navy

nav·vy

(năv′ē)
n. pl. nav·vies Chiefly British
A laborer, especially one employed in construction or excavation projects.
[Short for navigator, canal laborer (obsolete).]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

navvy

(ˈnævɪ)
n, pl -vies
informal Brit a labourer on a building site, excavations, etc
[C19: shortened from navigator, builder of a navigation (sense 4)]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

nav•vy

(ˈnæv i)

n., pl. -vies.
Brit. Informal. an unskilled manual laborer.
[1825–35; earlier, a laborer employed in canal excavation; nav(igator) in same sense (compare obsolete or dial. navigation a canal) + -y 2]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun 1. [画像:navvy - a laborer who is obliged to do menial work]navvy - a laborer who is obliged to do menial work
laborer, labourer, manual laborer, jack - someone who works with their hands; someone engaged in manual labor
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

navvy

noun labourer, worker, ganger, workman, manual worker, hand He spent 18 months doing navvy's work on a building site.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations

navvy

[ˈnævɪ] N (Brit) → peón m caminero
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

navvy

[ˈnævi] n (British) → terrassier m
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

navvy

n (Brit) → Bauarbeiter(in) m(f); (on road also) → Straßenarbeiter(in) m(f)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

navvy

[ˈnævɪ] n (Brit) → sterratore m, manovale m
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
Equally right or wrong is he who says that Napoleon went to Moscow because he wanted to, and perished because Alexander desired his destruction, and he who says that an undermined hill weighing a million tons fell because the last navvy struck it for the last time with his mattock.
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"He stood there, in Norfolk jacket, pigskin puttees, and all the rest of the fashionable get-up out of a bandbox, sneering at me covered with filth and grease to the eyebrows and looking like a navvy. And, the rollers now white from the lime, I'd just seen what was wrong.
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Then his round eyes rolled to the large white lettering on the window above his head, and then strayed to the next table, at which sat only a navvy with beer and cheese, and a young girl with red hair and a glass of milk.
View in context
His proper trade's a navvy; and he works at it sometimes too--for exercise--and earns good money at it.
View in context
Rosie was celebrating her golden wedding but she could make a navvy blush with her colourful turn of phrase.
WEDDING SINGER IS A LITTLE FLAT; THE WEDDING SINGER KING'S THEATRE, GLASGOW 18/04/
Peter and Alex find out what life was like as a navvy, working in all weathers to dig thousands of miles of iron roads.
THURSDAY JULY 28; TV GUIDE
There was a post office, canteen, billiard room, workshops, stables, train sheds, sawmill, stores, offices, navvy mission hall seating 260, guild room, isolation hospital and a shanty building with bunks for casual workers.
They danced, they drank and they built a reservoir: Welcome to the other Newcastle and Gateshead
First order of the day for Annie is to find a roof to sleep under, but she's forced to take in some grubby, rowdy navvy workmen as lodgers.
TODAY'S TV
"Annie learns about this navvy town 15 miles away so they get on a train and go out there," explains the writer.
The Wild West of Yorkshire? Well, it's actually set in the north of the county, but hey..
Foreman Ralph BODY OF WORK: Johnny finds a navvy dead CASH CRISIS: Annie, George and Martha
Widow's pique; Jessica Raine plays a mum left destitute by the death of her debt-ridden husband; We love BEST TV
Up stepped Robert Metcalf, a navvy on the sight with his magnifying glass to light the flame from the sun, and the locomotion was ready for this first historic journey.
TEESSIDE TRIVIA
At Beamish Museum, a first World War battle bus and an 1918 Erie steam navvy were some of the classic vehicles on show at the Great North Steam Fair, which also runs until Sunday.
Exhibitors showcase rail history at Stationary Engine Rally in Shildon; A record number of exhibitors attended the opening day of the rally as vintage steam engines were put on display at the National Railway Museum