navvy

[ nav-ee ]

/ ˈnæv i /

an unskilled manual laborer.

Origin of navvy

First recorded in 1825–35; short for navigator

It is pleasing to remember that a Navvy Battalion followed us!

The 23rd (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (First Sportsman's) |Fred W. Ward
The high wages of the navvy are offset by the disadvantages of his employment.

Recent Developments in European Thought |Various
Navvy gave us and the lions a wide berth, and walked to camp.

Tales of lonely trails |Zane Grey
The doctor, the schoolmaster, and the professor will be paid (in labour-cheques) at the same rate as the navvy.

The Conquest of Bread |Peter Kropotkin

Peter could and did occasionally work like a navvy without feeling that his Imperial dignity was thereby impaired.

Russia |Donald Mackenzie Wallace

navvy

/ (ˈnævɪ) /

British informal a labourer on a building site, excavations, etc

C19: shortened from navigator, builder of a navigation (sense 4)