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
Never mind that when she sang and danced, she sounded like a bullfrog on steroids and moved like a drunken stevedore.
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 2023
“On the first issue, the company proved that it does not owe the terminal usage fees because it was neither a stevedore nor engaged in stevedoring,” Laster wrote.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2022
Attucks was a stevedore, or dock worker, killed by British soldiers at the Boston Massacre in 1770.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2020
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
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
Liverpool docks were once filled with the sound of horses' hooves, the commotion of emigrants leaving for a new life and the din of stevedores loading heavy goods on to vessels bound for the Atlantic.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2015
But when Heights Chateau opened in 1986, its stretch of Atlantic Avenue was known for dive bars serving stevedores, not well-lighted storefronts offering wine tastings.
From New York Times ● Nov. 11, 2015
Stonetown Harbor had always been a busy port: ships steaming in and weighing anchor at all hours, countless stevedores and sailors as busy as ants, and the docks piled high with cargo.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
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
She also said GT improperly used information obtained from Murphy Marine during the lawsuit to negotiate its own stevedoring contract with Dole Fresh Fruit Company.
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
Harbor dues and port charges have been remitted at many points and stevedoring firms have made important concessions in rates and have afforded other generous services.
From History of the World War An Authentic Narrative of the World's Greatest War by Francis Andrew March
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.
