noun
General Slang
Navvy
· noun · construction
A manual labourer, especially on heavy excavation or groundworks.
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Definitions
1
A heavy-graft manual labourer, historically the men who dug Britain's canals, railways, and roads by hand. Today still used for groundworkers and trench diggers. The word carries weight: navvies built the country with picks and shovels.
“We need a couple of navvies on the trench tomorrow.”
by community
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2
By extension, a steam-powered or mechanical excavator, especially in older British usage. Shortened from 'steam navvy'.
“They brought a navvy in to clear the cutting.”
by community
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Navvy In A Sentence
We need a couple of navvies on the trench tomorrow.
They brought a navvy in to clear the cutting.
Origin & Usage
Short for 'navigator', the 18th-century term for canal builders who dug the inland 'navigations'.
Variants
navvies
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