barrow boy

See also: barrow-boy

English

Alternative forms

• barrow-boy

Etymology

From barrow +‎ boy. First use appears c. 1939. See cite below. The slang usage dates from the 1980s.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

barrow boy (plural barrow boys)

1. (UK, dated) A boy or man who sells goods, especially fruits or vegetables, from a barrow; a costermonger.
   • 1939, John Worby, Spiv's Progress, page 72:

     I pointed out to him that it was impossible for him to do that ... barrow boys to take him back to Manchester.

   • 1948, "Is rhubarb a fruit?", The Listener, page 650:

     ...at a London magistrate's court a young coster — a barrow boy — was summoned before me for selling rhubarb without a licence.

   • 2021 March 10, Greg Morse, “Telling the railway's story on film”, in RAIL, number 926, page 48:

     Operation London Bridge, also from 1975, tells the story of the busy station's redevelopment. Cutting neatly from the barrow boys of Borough Market to an aerial view of Borough Market Junction, the film uses time lapse photography to show the congestion rife in the area during the morning rush hour.

2. (UK, slang, derogatory, by extension) A financial industry worker from a working class or lower middle class family background.
   • 1992, Leslie Budd, Sam Whimster, Global Finance and Urban Living, page 326:

     The "barrow boy" commodities trader may well have no aspirations to old-style middle class tastes.

References

• “barrow boy”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.