gandy dancer
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of gandy dancer
1915–20; dancer apparently in reference to the rhythmic movements characteristic of such work; gandy is unexplained; the existence of a Gandy Manufacturing Company, which supposedly produced tools used by section gangs, has not been substantiated
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One observer likened her stroke “to watching a gandy dancer drive railroad spikes,” The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported.
From New York Times • Mar. 2, 2023
Sir: To personify Chicago as "a gambling man, a gandy dancer" is belittling.
From Time Magazine Archive
On the shore of Lake Michigan stands big-shouldered Chicago, a gambling man, a gandy dancer, a latter-day John Bunyan whose self-conscious gazes into his mirror reflect the pride and simplicity of the U.S. heartland.
From Time Magazine Archive
He was born in Taunton, Mass, in 1881, onetime worker in a rendering plant, seaman, streetcar motorman, homesteader, gandy dancer, Wobbly and hobo.
From Time Magazine Archive
He worked through John Carroll and Ohio Northern Universities, earning his way as a gandy dancer on the New York Central.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
