stevedore
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
-
stevedores,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stevedored,
past participle, past
-
stevedoring
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
stevedores,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stevedored,
past participle, past
-
stevedoring
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
stevedoresimple
-
stevedoressimple
-
have stevedoredperfect
-
has stevedoredperfect
-
am stevedoringprogressive
-
are stevedoringprogressive
-
is stevedoringprogressive
-
have been stevedoringperfect progressive
-
has been stevedoringperfect progressive
Past
-
stevedoredsimple
-
had stevedoredperfect
-
was stevedoringprogressive
-
were stevedoringprogressive
-
had been stevedoringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stevedore
1780–90, < Spanish estibador, equivalent to estib ( ar ) to pack, stow ( see steeve 1) + -ador -ator
Explanation
You can call a dock worker who loads cargo onto boats a stevedore. You don't have to be named Steve to be one (the word means docker or longshoreman), but the spelling of the English given name probably influenced the modern appearance of this word, from the Spanish estivar, "to stow cargo." The ultimate root is the Latin word stipare, "pack down or press," and the archaic English verb steeve, or stow, is a relative.
Vocabulary lists containing stevedore
"A Walk to the Jetty," Vocabulary from a novel excerpt
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The Mysterious Benedict Society
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"A Walk to the Jetty" by Jamaica Kincaid
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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.
See Examples For:
The company, part of Dubai's state-owned DP World, is one of a handful of stevedore industry players in the country.
From Reuters ● Nov. 12, 2023
Attucks was a stevedore, or dock worker, killed by British soldiers at the Boston Massacre in 1770.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2020
It didn’t matter that I ached like a stevedore at the end of a double shift.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 17, 2020
She’s worked alongside boats as a stevedore for nearly 18 years, moving cargo on and off container ships with a forklift.
From New York Times ● Dec. 23, 2019
Though not as tall or physically commanding as Bull’s, Captain Brannon’s body was stacked together with the knotted muscles of a stevedore, and an implied menace shadowed his whole appearance.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Striking workers include crane drivers, machine operators and stevedores, who load and unload ships.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2022
In time, entrepreneurs set up bigger tents, brought in pianos for merry-making and “good, clean, cheap fun, even on Saturday nights, when the stevedores, oil drillers, and sailors wandered in from Santa Monica …”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2022
Where those dollars go: The cruise economy web extends further than you might think — restaurateurs, stevedores, shuttle drivers, private security firms, farmers who sell vast quantities of produce to provision ships, etc.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 17, 2021
This has left 85 of the 97 container ships the company operates literally stranded at sea, as ports refused to admit them for fear that stevedores and tugboat crews won’t be paid.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2016
On her hands and knees, Sefia peered around the corner, her quick eyes picking out stevedores milling about on the decks and gangways.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
For a month or more the lonesome husband "stevedored," wrestling freight on the lighters, then he disappeared.
From Laughing Bill Hyde and Other Stories by Rex Ellingwood Beach
“GT, which is the largest privately-owned port operator in the world, could have started its own stevedoring business and shuttered Murphy Marine’s business entirely by denying it access to the port,” he noted.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 19, 2022
After taking over the port, GT imposed a new tariff structure, which included a new volume-based “terminal usage fee” on stevedoring.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2022
After taking over the port, GT imposed a new tariff structure, which includes a new volume-based “terminal usage fee” on stevedoring, which is the physical handling of containers and cargo from vessels.
From Washington Times ● May 12, 2020
He was a lawyer with the Federal Maritime Commission and for several stevedoring associations before 1973 when he joined the newly reconstituted National Association of Stevedores, which later became the National Association of Waterfront Employers.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 12, 2018
We thought there might be some stevedoring to do.
From The Pit Prop Syndicate by Freeman Wills Crofts
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
