workingman

English

Etymology

From working +‎ -man.

Noun

workingman (plural workingmen)

1. A man who works in exchange for payment, especially a labourer who does manual labour.
   • 1917, New Catholic World, volume 105, page 725:

     The workingman, through the invention of many time and labor saving devices, has been freed from much drudgery and now finds his day portionable into eight hours for rest, eight hours for work and eight hours for recreation.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter VIII, in Capricornia‎^[1] (fiction), D. Appleton & Company, page 131:

     To her it seemed indecent that a pregnant woman of her standing (Government Service) should have to board the steamer without a husband to go with her and dispute about her accommodation and whisper anxiously to the doctor and stewardess—almost as indecent as a Government Service woman's having her baby in the hospital in Port Zodiac with the wives of workingmen and Greeks.

   • 1997 May 14, Brian Helgeland, Curtis Hanson, L.A. Confidential, spoken by Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), Regency Enterprises; distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures:

     Every workingman can have his own house.

Hypernyms

• worker

Coordinate terms

• workingwoman

See also

• working girl