roustabout

American  

[roust-uh-bout] / ˈraʊst əˌbaʊt /

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.

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roustabout British  

/ ˈraʊstəˌbaʊt /

noun

1. an unskilled labourer on an oil rig

2. another word for rouseabout

3. a labourer in a circus or fairground

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Etymology

Origin of roustabout

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

Example Sentences

Shane's father, Maurice, who also described himself as something of a "roustabout", would, he said, try to read James Joyce's famously impenetrable, Finnegan's Wake with an 11-year-old Shane.

From BBC • Nov. 30, 2023

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.

From Seattle Times • May 4, 2023

Norwood Pratt is an earnest gas station employee who gets wrapped up in a roustabout grifter’s web.

From Washington Post • Apr. 13, 2023

His young mother, Beatrice, had married an engineer and roustabout named Horace Seidner who turned out not to be the family type.

From New York Times • Oct. 13, 2022

Nobody with a smidgen of training, not even the worst roustabout, would look right in a grown person’s face.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou