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View synonyms for roustabout

roustabout

[roust-uh-bout]

noun

  1. a wharf laborer or deck hand, as on the Mississippi River.

  2. an unskilled laborer who lives by odd jobs.

  3. a circus laborer who helps in setting up and taking down the tents and in caring for the animals, equipment, and grounds.

  4. any unskilled laborer working in an oil field.



roustabout

/ ˈraʊstəˌbaʊt /

noun

  1. an unskilled labourer on an oil rig

  2. another word for rouseabout

  3. a labourer in a circus or fairground

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of roustabout1

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70; roust + about
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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.

It was a roustabout settlement with three stores, a blacksmithy, a boarding house, a half-dozen saloons, gambling hells and dance halls.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But the roustabout Hal’s dawning maturity costs him the companion he once held dear.

Read more on New York Times

I spoke to prison guards who patrolled the wards of violent penitentiaries, undocumented immigrants who toiled on the “kill floors” of industrial slaughterhouses and roustabouts who worked on offshore rigs in the fossil-fuel industry.

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As a former construction worker, he had the foundation, with some additional training, to begin working as a roustabout, assembling and repairing equipment in the offshore oil industry two years ago.

Read more on Seattle Times

His character is a janitor and general roustabout, angling for a spot in the show.

Read more on New York Times

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