roustabout
pronunciation
How to pronounce roustabout in British English:
UK [ˈraʊstəbaʊt]
How to pronounce roustabout in American English:
US [ˈraʊstəˌbaʊt]
-
- Noun:
- a member of a ship's crew who performs manual labor
Word Origin
- roustabout (n.)
- "deck hand, wharf worker," 1868, perhaps from roust + about. But another theory connects it to British dialect rousing "rough, shaggy," a word associated perhaps with rooster. With extended senses in U.S., including "circus hand" (1931); "manual laborer on an oil rig" (1948).
Example
- 1. The elder son , tom , is a roustabout and a drunk .
- 2. The toughest occupations are : roustabout , lumberjack , ironworker , garbage collector , taxi driver , construction worker , and reporter .
- 3. But with hiring on the rebound for the past few months and expected to heat up further , the outlook for human-resource professionals is bright.lumberjack replaced last year 's top loser , roustabout , also known as an oil-rig worker .
- 4. He broke into the movies after a fling as a roustabout in the texas and oklahoma oil fields .
- 5. If you 're not sure what a roustabout is , you 're probably not alone .