roustabout

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“
Mr Adelson, who was raised in San Francisco and who had worked as a roustabout, a telegraph operator and a merchant seaman taught the Academy, and his wild stories were all Oly could talk about He raised one eyebrow quizzically when I came through the door at 8:00 that morning.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A laborer employed for temporary or unskilled jobs, as in an oil field.
  2. noun A circus laborer.
  3. noun A deck or wharf laborer, especially on the Mississippi River.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • The chemist's features and clothes were enough to place him as a roustabout So Ham, in his smooth, oratorical way, did the talking. —  110 - The Magic Forest
  • You were flyin I nodded and told them my name -- Paul Orsatti -- and I told them that I was a mail pilot, which I'd been for a while, until I got myself fired from New York Chicago Air Transport for being self-righteous; and I wasn't going to tell them that I'd been kicking around for the past year as a roustabout stunt flier, working for crummy outfits like Pitkin's Circle-Q Flying Circus. —  F ;SF; - vol 100 issue 06 - June 2001
  • As far as I can remember there was Mr. Thomas Johns, the manager, his wife and his son Cliff, an odd man—is roustabout the right word?—called Albert Black, three shepherds, five visiting shearers, a wool classer, three boys, two gardeners, a cow-man and a station cook. —  Died in the Wool - Ngaio Marsh - Alleyn 13: 1944
  • The roustabout, Albie Black, is rather thick with him. —  Died in the Wool - Ngaio Marsh - Alleyn 13: 1944
  • In early September Levi got a job as a roustabout on an ASRC project. —  Moments In Time
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

raker ·  farmer-like ·  controlman ·  roustabouts ·  telegraphist ·  moil ·  heheh ·  apter ·  commentarial ·  villein ·  tendit ·  slave-babe
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Cf. English dial. rousabout, a restless, fidgety person; from rouse or roust + about.
 

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/ˈraʊstəbaʊt/
by American Heritage

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