Meaning of roustabout | Babel Free

Definitions

An unskilled laborer, especially at an oilfield, at a circus or on a ship.

US

Equivalents

Examples

“The U. is my own Alma Mater, and I am proud to be known as an alumni, but there are certain instructors there who seem to think we ought to turn the conduct of the nation over to hoboes and roustabouts.”

“Then Sísiphos in torment I beheld / being roustabout to a tremendous boulder.”

“Brooklyn Tony, who had run away from home to be a circus roustabout, became a poster artist and eventually an Abstract Expressionist.”

“She works in McGregor, North Dakota as a roustabout pusher. That means she and her crew help fix and maintain the drilling sites.”

“See also quotations under rouseabout.”

CEFR level