boilermaker

[boi-ler-mey-ker]

noun

a person employed to make and repair boilers or other heavy metal items.
whiskey with beer as a chaser.

Origin of boilermaker

First recorded in 1860–65; boiler + maker

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for boilermaker

Contemporary Examples of boilermaker

He was a construction worker, a boilermaker, with 20 years of experience building new power plants and doing repairs.
New iPhone a Problem for People Who Lack Fingerprints
Winston Ross
September 12, 2013

Historical Examples of boilermaker

A cotton-spinner cannot in a week or a month become a boilermaker.
Twentieth Century Socialism
Edmond Kelly
She is somewhat over six feet six in height and built like a boilermaker.
A Parody Outline of History
Donald Ogden Stewart
Went from trackman to machinist's helper and boilermaker's helper.
Slave Narratives: Arkansas Narratives
Work Projects Administration
Near the captain sat his chum, John Barbot, the boilermaker of the isle of Rhe.
The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer
Eugne Sue
This engine of war, an invention of Master Barbot the boilermaker, received the name of the censer.
The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer
Eugne Sue

British Dictionary definitions for boilermaker

boilermaker

noun

a person who works with metal in heavy industry; plater or welder
British slang a beer drink consisting of half of draught mild and half of bottled brown ale
US slang a drink of whisky followed by a beer chaser

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

Word Origin and History for boilermaker

"a maker of boilers for engines," 1814, from boiler (n.) + maker. Meaning "shot of whiskey with a glass of beer" is short for boilermaker's delight (1910), strong cheap whiskey, so called in jest from the notion that it would clean the scales from the interior of a boiler.