roughneck

[ ruhf-nek ]

/ ˈrʌfˌnɛk /

a rough, coarse person; a tough.

any laborer working on an oil-drilling rig. Compare roustabout(def 4).

to work as a roughneck.

Origin of roughneck

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40; rough + neck

I wanted to kill the enemy and be a roughneck and cuss and spit tobacco, come home and do it again.

‘Hell And Back Again’: PBS Airs Documentary On Wounded Marine |Jesse Ellison |May 28, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
And as long as youre rooming with me—which I hope wont be long—Ill ask you to cut out that roughneck stuff.

Full-Back Foster |Ralph Henry Barbour
It was mighty slow, an' I'm still a roughneck; but I'm gettin' on.

The Mucker |Edgar Rice Burroughs
I kind of gloried in being a roughneck, I reckon, he added with a wry smile.

The Heart of Canyon Pass |Thomas K. Holmes

I copped it on the high seas—flotsam and jetsam,' says the 'roughneck.'

The Crimson Gardenia and Other Tales of Adventure |Rex Beach
But I expect one cabaret is about like another in these roughneck towns.

The Heart of Canyon Pass |Thomas K. Holmes

roughneck

/ (ˈrʌfˌnɛk) /

a rough or violent person; thug

a worker in an oil-drilling operation