battlers

Noun

battler (plural battlers)

1. One who wages battle against an enemy; a soldier; a general.
2. (Australia, dated) An itinerant worker or unemployed person.
   • “But look here!” interrupted the Pilgrim, desperately, “we can′t afford to wait! We′re only ‘battlers’, me and my mate, pickin′ up crumbs by the wayside. We′ve got to catch the——”1900, Henry Lawson, The Shanty-Keeper′s Wife, Over the Sliprails, Gutenberg eBook # 1313
3. One who works hard in the face of adversity.
   • Dave Rust and Scotty Salmon failed at their Mount Elizabeth venture and are now again at the old love, Karunjie. Good luck to such battlers.1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 315