roadie

American

[roh-dee] / ˈroʊ di /

noun

Slang.

a member of a crew for a traveling group of musicians or other entertainers, whose work usually includes the setting up of equipment.

roadie British

/ ˈrəʊdɪ /

noun

informal a person who transports and sets up equipment for a band or group

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of roadie

1965–70; road (from the idiom on the road ) + -ie; analogous to groupie

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.

See Examples For:

roadie

As the roadie puts it in “Wayne’s World 2,” “Keith cannot be killed by conventional weapons.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025

Originally a roadie for The Specials - then known as The Coventry Automatics - he joined the band as a singer in the late 1970s.

From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2024

A machine-learning neural network dubbed MAL in homage to the Beatles’ beloved roadie Mal Evans, the technology provides the capability for separating audio tracks into their component parts.

From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2023

Following an opening DJ set by Questlove, Jagger pranced and prowled a stage much smaller than he’s used to, one that a roadie prepared for him by sprinkling powder on the floor.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 19, 2023

“He sang for friends’ bands, and he was a roadie for my uncle’s band.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023