ditchdigger
[dich-dig-er]
- a worker whose occupation is digging ditches, especially with pick and shovel.
- a person engaged in exhausting manual work, especially work that requires little or no originality.
- Also called ditcher, trencher. a power excavating machine designed to remove earth in a continuous line and to a predetermined width and depth, as by means of a rotating belt equipped with scoops.
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Origin of ditchdigger
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ditch-digger
Historical Examples
Shown up in our newspapers as a ditch-digger—a fly-by-night—a nobody!
The LandloperHolman Day
A little nephew of ours said he wanted to be a ditch-digger.
Analyzing CharacterKatherine M. H. Blackford and Arthur Newcomb
He is no longer a ditch-digger and a ploughman, but the proud master of councils or the cultured professor of the university.
A Short History of Monks and MonasteriesAlfred Wesley Wishart
A ditch-digger, looking at the question short-sightedly, may deem "a good drunk" a very desirable form of enjoyment.
The Principles of EconomicsFrank A. Fetter
The breakfast came and Craig ate like a ditch-digger—his own breakfast and most of Grant's.
The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua CraigDavid Graham Phillips