road gang
Americannoun
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a group of workers employed to repair or build roads.
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(in the U.S.) a detail of prisoners set to repairing a road.
Etymology
Origin of road gang
First recorded in 1885–90
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.
Jackson answered while working on a road gang to fulfill his sentence, picking up trash on the side of a Michigan highway.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 20, 2020
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., holder of degrees from at least five colleges, may spend the time on a road gang if an appeal is denied.
From Washington Times ● May 4, 2020
Each day for the past five months, a road gang has toiled on a Sisyphean task along the muddy Atlantic Coast, trying to fill a breach in a 60-mile sea wall with stones and sand.
From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2020
They were bringing back the road gang from its grass-cutting job along Jesup Highway.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Ranger had signalled for some of the road gang to ascend from below the battlements to keep guard till the coroner could come.
From The Freebooters of the Wilderness by Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)
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.
