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
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 worked through John Carroll and Ohio Northern Universities, earning his way as a gandy dancer on the New York Central.
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
Sir: To personify Chicago as "a gambling man, a gandy dancer" is belittling.
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.
