longshoreman

American  

[lawng-shawr-muhn, -shohr-, long-] / ˈlɔŋˈʃɔr mən, -ˈʃoʊr-, ˈlɒŋ- /

noun

• longshoremen
  plural

1. a person employed on the wharves of a port, as in loading and unloading vessels.

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longshoreman British  

/ ˈlɒŋˌʃɔːmən /

noun

1. Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): docker.  a man employed in the loading or unloading of ships

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Usage

What does longshoreman mean? A longshoreman is a person who works loading and unloading shipping vessels at a dock. A longshoreman can also be called a docker or dockworker. The work of a longshoreman is called longshoring. Although the profession has traditionally been done primarily by men, women also do the job, and one can be called a longshorewoman, a woman longshoreman, or a female longshoreman. Example: When I worked as a longshoreman, I made good money, but the work was exhausting.

Gender

See -man.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• longshoremen
  plural

Etymology

Origin of longshoreman

First recorded in 1805–15; longshore + -man

Explanation

A person who works loading and unloading vessels in a harbor is a longshoreman. Many modern longshoremen use cranes and forklifts to move containers on and off container ships. Other words for this job are stevedore and dockworker. The term longshoreman, commonly used in the U.S. and Canada, was derived from man-along-the-shore or man alongshore. Still, any laborer who moves goods onto or off of a ship can be called a longshoreman, even if they're not a man. There aren't as many of these jobs today as there once were, but there are still more than 100,000 longshoremen who work in dozens of U.S. ports.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

longshoreman longshoremen

I thanked the longshoreman guy and headed upstairs, followed quickly by orange, tailless Lucy the Bookstore Cat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2023

In 1976, she married Walter Williams, a longshoreman and union activist.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 11, 2023

Rehearsing and performing in the barge has helped Bomba to step into the shoes of a 1950s longshoreman.

From New York Times ● Jun. 9, 2023

He quit school and left home in his mid-teens, working as a dishwasher and longshoreman, among other jobs, to save money for acting school.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 16, 2022

The longshoreman gave her a queer look, shmgged, and walked away.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

Nearly half of the longshoremen who support operations at the port went without work over the last two weeks, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said in an interview.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2025

Under the current contract, longshoremen earn a top rate of $39 an hour.

From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2024

Top-scale longshoremen earn a base pay of $39 an hour.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2024

Once the ship is removed, maritime traffic can begin returning to normal, which will provide relief for thousands of longshoremen, truckers and small business owners whose jobs have been affected by the closure.

From Seattle Times ● May 13, 2024

The oarsmen came leaping aboard, sturdy men with great arms, while longshoremen rolled water barrels thundering out the dock and stowed them under the rowers’ benches.

From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin