navvy
noun
an unskilled manual laborer.
navvies
-
pluralof navvy.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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.
They helped build the C&O Canal and worked as navvies, or laborers, in its port.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 4, 2020
The scale of the work can be judged by the group of navvies gathered in the bottom right of the picture.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2018
To build the Paris-Rouen-Le Havre line in 1841-7, they “imported” not only an engineer, but also thousands of British navvies, miners, bricklayers and mechanics.
From Time ● Oct. 26, 2016
I'm not advocating navvies but maybe we need a touch of 19th-century confidence.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 6, 2011
An unexpected irruption of men—they may be miners or navvies or land-workers.
From Sea and Sardinia by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
