sweatee

English

Etymology

From sweat +‎ -ee.

Noun

sweatee (plural sweatees)

1. (historical) A subcontractor doing piece work in the tailoring trade.

   Coordinate term: sweater

   • 1894, New York (State) Bureau of Mediation and Arbitration, Annual Report (volumes 7-8, page 158)

     If the piecework system had not existed there never would have been any sweatees. The men who are sweaters, I am sorry to say, are men who formerly belonged to our union.