navvy
Syllables: nav·vy/ˈnævi/
navvy noun: a laborer on a civil engineering project such as a canal or railroad.
Noun
navvy (plural navvies)
- A laborer on a civil engineering project such as a canal or railroad.
- 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...1909, B. Lindsay, Stories of the Universe: Animal Life
- His proper trade's a navvy; and he works at it sometimes too—for exercise—and earns good money at it.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
- an unskilled laborer
Verb
navvy (third-person singular simple present navvies, present participle navvying, simple past and past participle navvied)
- To carry out physical labor on a civil engineering project.
- But by pretending to believe he's navvied before, I've given him double reason to drive himself hard.1974, Malcolm MacDonald, World From Rough Stones, published 2013, unnumbered page
- Before my time of navvying I believe the times were still worse.1978, John Shaw Neilson, The Autobiography of John Shaw Neilson, page 104
navvy meaning in Bengali and Malayalam
navvy in Bengali
- অদক্ষ শ্রমিক
navvy in Malayalam
- തോടു കുഴിക്കുന്നവൻ, കൂലിപ്പണിക്കാരൻ, ഖനനയന്ത്രം
Examples of navvy in a sentence
- Suppose two lads, fresh from school, go out into the world to earn their living; one becomes a navvy and one a clerk.1909, B. Lindsay, Stories of the Universe: Animal Life:
- Three terms to use for George Eliot: the feminine imagination and sensibility; Intellect, the capacity for higher navvying; Intelligence.1995, F. R. Leavis, Ian Duncan MacKillop, Richard Storer, editors, F.R. Leavis: Essays and Documents, published 2005, page 89:
Forms of navvy
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | navvies |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | navvies |
| present participle | navvying |
| past participle | navvied |
| past | navvied |
Origin of navvy
Clipping of navigator, in reference to the navigation canals upon which these workers first toiled, + -y.
Words formed from navvy
Words that rhyme with navvy
Questions about navvy
- What does navvy mean?
- Navvy means a laborer on a civil engineering project such as a canal or railroad.
- What is navvy in Bengali?
- Navvy in Bengali is অদক্ষ শ্রমিক. See Navvy meaning in Bengali.
- How do you use navvy in a sentence?
- Suppose two lads, fresh from school, go out into the world to earn their living; one becomes a navvy and one a clerk.
- What part of speech is navvy?
- Navvy can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce navvy?
- Navvy is pronounced /ˈnævi/.
- What is the plural of navvy?
- The plural of navvy is navvies.
Words near navvy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: navvy (page history and authors); navvy (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); navvy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-navvy.wav.
Cite this entry: “navvy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/navvy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.