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roughneck

noun
/ˈɹʌfˌnɛk/

Etymology

From rough + neck, originally "someone who works a manual labour job".

  1. derived from *knog-✻
  2. inherited from *hnakkô✻ — “nape, neck”
  3. inherited from hnecca
  4. inherited from nekke
  5. compounded as roughneck — “rough + neck”

Definitions

  1. A labourer on an oil rig or in the oilpatch, either skilled or semiskilled.

    • This first ship had a small geophysical-type drilling rig mounted over the side of the ship with a steel grid runround for the roughnecks, who stood in knee-deep water while making connections or pulling the drill string.
    • As for the minerals, there has been a good deal of drilling along the big river; trucks and roughnecks no longer garner any notice.

  2. A dirty or low-paid worker, a labourer

    A dirty or low-paid worker, a labourer; an ironworker in an ironworks or a steelworker in a steelworks.

  3. Someone with rough manners

    Someone with rough manners; a rowdy or uncouth person.

    • LaTisha has long wanted to show Carole sheʼs not the roughneck she used to be, the roughneck who wasnʼt good enough to be her friend.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. To work as a laborer on an oil rig.

      • There was a time not long ago when this region appeared as some enduring mystification, its citizenry best known for roughnecking on the North Slope […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for roughneck. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA