navvy

English

Etymology

Clipping of navigator, in reference to the navigation canals upon which these workers first toiled, -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnævi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ævi
• Hyphenation: nav‧vy

Noun

navvy (plural navvies)

1. (chiefly UK, historical) A laborer on a civil engineering project such as a canal or railroad.
   • 1909, B. Lindsay, Stories of the Universe: Animal Life:

     Suppose two lads, fresh from school, go out into the world to earn their living; one becomes a navvy and one a clerk. In five years' time these two young men will probably be very different in appearance from one another. The navvy will have developed his muscles; he will be broad-built, broad-chested, and strong.

   • 1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act II, page 143:

     His proper trade's a navvy; and he works at it sometimes too—for exercise—and earns good money at it.

   • 2020 May 20, Philip Haigh, “Ribblehead: at the heart of the S&C's survival and its revival”, in Rail, page 26:

     The navvies of the Midland Railway toiled for years to build it, enduring grim conditions in shanty towns that were built miles from civilisation. But build it they did, to form part of the Midland's main line between London St Pancras and Carlisle via Sheffield and Leeds from 1876.

Derived terms

• French navvy
• steam navvy

Related terms

• navigation
• navigator

Translations

laborer on a civil engineering project such as a canal or railroad

• Belarusian: земляко́п m (zjemljakóp) (digger)
• Bulgarian: изкопчия m (izkopčija)
• Czech: kopáč (cs) m (digger)
• Dutch: grondwerker (nl) m
• French: terrassier (fr) m
• German: ^{(please verify)} Hilfsarbeiter (de) m
• Italian: manovale (it) m
• Polish: kopacz (pl) m (digger)
• Russian: землеко́п (ru) m (zemlekóp) (digger)
• Slovak: kopáč m (digger)
• Ukrainian: землеко́п (uk) m (zemlekóp) (digger)

Verb

navvy (third-person singular simple present navvies, present participle navvying, simple past and past participle navvied)

1. (intransitive, UK, historical) To carry out physical labor on a civil engineering project.
   • 1974, Malcolm MacDonald, World From Rough Stones, published 2013, unnumbered page:

     But by pretending to believe he's navvied before, I've given him double reason to drive himself hard.

   • 1978, John Shaw Neilson, The Autobiography of John Shaw Neilson, page 104:

     Before my time of navvying I believe the times were still worse.

   • 1995, F. R. Leavis, Ian Duncan MacKillop, Richard Storer, editors, F.R. Leavis: Essays and Documents, published 2005, page 89:

     Three terms to use for George Eliot: the feminine imagination and sensibility; Intellect, the capacity for higher navvying; Intelligence.