navvy
British manual worker
A navvy is a laborer who does heavy manual work, especially excavation and earthmoving for roads, railways, and canals.
The term originated in 18th-century Britain when workers dug the navigation canals—"navigators" shortened to navvies.
A gang of navvies laid the railway bed.
The word remains more common in British than American English.
One who unearths
- shovelerOne who uses a spade
- workmanMale manual laborer
- toilerOne who works hard
- grafterOne who takes bribes
groundworker · gangs · contractor · ganger · foreman · pick · shovel · wheelbarrow
Path or monitored route
- sleeperOne at rest
- ballastShip stability material
- cuttingDividing via sharp edge
- embankmentRaised earth structure
viaduct · tunnel · gradient · gauge · siding · junction · signal · railbed
digger
One who unearths
grafter · groundworker · gangs · contractor · ganger · foreman · pick · shovel · wheelbarrow · trench
track
Path or monitored route
embankment · viaduct · tunnel · gradient · gauge · siding · junction · signal · railbed · grading
waterway
Navigable route for vessels
- lockMechanism requiring a key
- towpathCanal-side walking route
- aqueductChannel conveying water distances
cutting · embankment · puddling · dredging · reservoir · culvert · channel · digging · excavation · barrow
Irish
Of the Emerald Isle
encampment · transient · seasonal · gang · settlement · drifter · tramping · lodging · barracks · labor force
- laborerslaborers, day laborer, day labourer, day laborers, manual worker
- Old Jobsblacksmith, farrier, wheelwright, chandler, apothecary
- hard workersant, ants, bee, bees, beaver
- British slangblag, bloke, bodge, blagger, bobby
- canalsGrand Canal, Panama Canal, Suez Canal, Erie Canal, canal boat
- road workersroad crew, paver, flagger, flagman, road builder
navvymaster craftsman
Expert in skilled trade
craftsman · artisan · engineer · architect · journeyman
navvywhite-collar worker
Non-manual professional employee
intellectual · scholar · office worker · clerk · bureaucrat
navvygentleman
Courteous, honorable man
aristocrat · nobleman · toff · capitalist · industrialist
- navy blueDeep dark shade
- GPS navigationSatellite-based directional system
- navigation systemDevice for finding routes
- navigation mapsGuides for reaching destinations
- navy ranksMilitary fleet hierarchy levels
- navigation aidsDevices assisting route-finding
navy, navigate, navigator, navigation, navigable, navigability, navvies