gandy-dancer
di noun Railroads Slang.
a member of a railroad section gang that lays or maintains track.
Origin:
1915–20; dancer apparently in reference to the rhythmic movements characteristic of such work; gandy is unexplained; the existence of a Gandy Manufacturing Company, which supposedly produced tools used by section gangs, has not been substantiated
1915–20; dancer apparently in reference to the rhythmic movements characteristic of such work; gandy is unexplained; the existence of a Gandy Manufacturing Company, which supposedly produced tools used by section gangs, has not been substantiated
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To gandy-dancer
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World English Dictionary
gandy dancer (ˈɡændɪ) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| slang a railway track maintenance worker | |
| [C20: of uncertain origin] | |
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Gandy-dancer
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
gandy dancer
"railroad maintenance worker," 1923, Amer.Eng. slang, of unknown origin; dancer perhaps from movements required in the work, gandy perhaps from using tools from the Gandy Manufacturing Co. of Chicago, U.S.A.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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