ditchdigger

[ dich-dig-er ]

noun
  1. a worker whose occupation is digging ditches, especially with pick and shovel.

  2. a person engaged in exhausting manual work, especially work that requires little or no originality.

  1. Also called ditcher, trencher. a power excavating machine designed to remove earth in a continuous line and to a predetermined width and depth, as by means of a rotating belt equipped with scoops.

Origin of ditchdigger

1
First recorded in 1895–1900; ditch + digger

Other words from ditchdigger

  • ditchdigging, noun, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ditchdigger in a sentence

  • Her corncob pipe—it was as rank a thing as ditch digger ever poisoned the clean air with.

    Tramping on Life | Harry Kemp
  • I became a ditch digger and a day laborer, and finally drifted into the professional wrestling racket.

    The Double Spy | Dan T. Moore
  • “He lives as no Dago ditch-digger with a particle of 28get-up-and-get in him would be willing to,” said Judge Emery finally.

    The Squirrel-Cage | Dorothy Canfield
  • The breakfast came and Craig ate like a ditch-digger—his own breakfast and most of Grant's.

  • And a ditch-digger, a good ditch-digger, ought to be respected—until he thinks he's the whole works.

    Sonnie-Boy's People | James B. Connolly