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Definition of "navvy" []

  • Chiefly British A laborer, especially one employed in construction or excavation projects. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "navvy" in a sentence
  • "The navvy was a fine specimen of humanity, with a complexion tanned a dusky coffee colour."
  • ""Sanitary Tom" (as the boys called the navvy who was his stout ally), had been at work laying bare the subterranean geography of our premises and making all right."
  • "It was in the formation of this, the true beginning of railways, that the British "navvy" was called into being."