roustabout
a wharf laborer or deck hand, as on the Mississippi River.
an unskilled laborer who lives by odd jobs.
a circus laborer who helps in setting up and taking down the tents and in caring for the animals, equipment, and grounds.
any unskilled laborer working in an oil field.: Compare roughneck (def. 2).
Origin of roustabout
1Words Nearby roustabout
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use roustabout in a sentence
The state contends he hired Joe Gentz, 50, a local roustabout, to kill his wife of 26 years.
Conservatives, notably Rush Limbaugh, leapt on CBS today to complain that late night would now be an overtly left-wing roustabout.
More likely to be a stowaway on a merchantman and then roustabout on a cattle boat, or some such thing.
Cap'n Eri | Joseph Crosby LincolnBurris is always yelling about not getting enough overtime work, but you know how it is: he's just a roustabout, a common laborer.
Day of the Moron | Henry Beam PiperA razor-back, or tent roustabout, struck Johnny on the head with a tent stake.
The Crimson Flash | Roy J. Snell
I was housemaid and roustabout from sunrise to weary sunset.
Hints to Pilgrims | Charles Stephen BrooksThen Kearny leaped to his feet and wrung my hand with the strength of a roustabout.
Roads of Destiny | O. Henry
British Dictionary definitions for roustabout
/ (ˈraʊstəˌbaʊt) /
an unskilled labourer on an oil rig
Australian another word for rouseabout
US and Canadian 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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