roustabout
Americannoun
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a wharf laborer or deck hand, as on the Mississippi River.
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an unskilled laborer who lives by odd jobs.
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a circus laborer who helps in setting up and taking down the tents and in caring for the animals, equipment, and grounds.
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any unskilled laborer working in an oil field.
noun
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an unskilled labourer on an oil rig
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another word for rouseabout
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a labourer in a circus or fairground
Etymology
Origin of roustabout
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.
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
His character is a janitor and general roustabout, angling for a spot in the show.
From New York Times ● Nov. 25, 2022
Mr. Duncan liked to joke that his only previous experience in the oil industry was working a few weeks in Texas rigs as a low-rung laborer known as roustabout.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 19, 2022
At nine on the nose, the man in the wagon beckons forth the first person, a roustabout.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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.
