roustern.
/ˈraʊstə/, U.S. /ˈraʊstər/ 1. U.S. = roustabout n. 1. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > sailors involved in specific duties or activities > [noun] > deck-hand
decker1800
deck-hand1844
roustabout1860
rouster1870
deck-boy1900
deckie1913
deckie-learner1934
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > worker in specific place > [noun] > at docks
gangsman1740
wharf-man1848
roustabout1860
matey1865
watersider1867
rouster1870
docker1887
wharf-labourer1890
wharf-lumper1906
wharfie1912
docksman1921
1870 Harper's Mag. Nov. 844/1 If I had a choice in the way of manual labor, it would not be in the line of a ‘rouster’.
1883 American 6 40 Men..who used to be rousters, and are now broken down and played out.
1929 B. L. Burman Mississippi iii. 47 A rouster, with two coffee sacks tied around his body..lay on the boiler deck strumming a guitar.
1938 B. L. Burman Blow for Landing xiv. 236 Barrels began to roll swiftly down the gangplank, like a bass-drum accompaniment for the feet of the negro rousters.
1991 A. Goldman in B. Morrow Conjunctions 9 One pictures it [sc. Beale Street] on a Saturday night circa 1910, crowded with plow jockeys and parlor belles, river rousters and factory frills.
2. U.S. and Australian. = roustabout n. 2a. Cf. rouser n. 4.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > [noun] > odd-job or handyman
factotum1562
Magister factotum1573
Johannes factotum1592
Jack of all trades1618
Tom of all trades1631
John-of-all-trades1639
handyman1742
odd man1743
gimcrack1766
Jack of all work1773
orraman1802
bottle washer1835
Jack1836
odd-jobs man1859
roustabout1862
hob-jobber1873
rouster1882
odd-jobber1886
knockabout1889
orra-loon1895
rouser1896
trouncer1896
leatherneck1898
loppy1898
rouseabout1901
bluetongue2002
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering > vagrancy or vagabondage > vagabond or tramp
harlot?c1225
raikera1400
vacabond1404
vagrant1444
gangrela1450
briber?c1475
palliard1484
vagabondc1485
rogue1489
wavenger1493
hermit1495
gaberlunzie1508
knight of the field1508
loiterer1530
straggler1530
runagate1534
ruffler1535
hedge-creeper1548
Abraham man1567
cursitor1567
runner1567
walker1567
tinker1575
traveller1598
Tartar1602
stravagant1606
wagand1614
Circumcellion1623
meechera1625
hedge-bird1631
gaberlunzie man1649
tramp1664
stroller1681
jockey1685
bird of passage1717
randy1724
tramper1760
stalko1804
vagabondager1813
rintherout1814
piker1838
pikey1838
beachcomber1840
roadster1851
vagabondizer1860
roustabout1862
bum1864
migratory1866
potter1867
sundowner1868
vag1868
walkabout1872
transient1877
Murrumbidgee whaler1878
rouster1882
run-the-hedge1882
whaler1883
shaughraun1884
heather-cat1886
hobo1889
tussocker1889
gay cat1893
overlander1898
stake-man1899
stiff1899
bindle-stiff1900
dingbat1902
stew-bum1902
tired Tim (also Timothy)1906
skipper1925
Strandlooper1927
knight of the road1928
hobohemian1936
plain turkey1955
scrub turkey1955
derro1963
jakey1988
crusty1990
1882 Atchison (Kansas) Globe 22 Mar. It takes a rouster three weeks to go all around the herd and make his report.
1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xxxviii. 338 There tumbled out of it all the sweepings of Sydney, all the old cripples, and beggars, and rousters in Christendom.
1997 D. Preston & L. Child Reliquary xvii. 111 Hard enough to be a pint-sized, pretty female rouster in the TA division, which had more than its share of hulking thugs.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1870