watersidern.
/ˈwɔːtəsʌɪdə/, U.S. /ˈwɔdərˌsaɪdər/, /ˈwɑdərˌsaɪdər/ A person who undertakes work or other activity at a waterside; = spec. (Australian and New Zealand) a docker, a longshoreman.
ΘΚΠ
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
1867 Bell's Life in London 6 Apr. 6/6 There was a large muster of below-bridge watersiders.
1883 Boston Post 8 June We are far from saying that every little lad who poaches on the New river with a stick and a string in quest of minnows and gudgeons is in immediate danger of developing into a felonious ‘watersider’.
1914 Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) 4 Feb. 10 For some time certain sections of watersiders who term themselves loyal men have been making periodic attacks on certain officials of the harbour board.
1929 Daily Express 15 Jan. 9/4 A mob of a thousand ‘watersiders’ rushed the McLaren wharf at Port Adelaide to-day when the steamer Mareeba was being loaded by volunteers.
1949 F. Sargeson I saw in my Dream xiv. 160 I see they're having trouble with those watersiders again.
1984 N.Z. Listener 10–16 Mar. 22/2 There, tattooed watersiders drink away the profits of a crown and anchor session down at the wharves.
2000 Crit. Inq. 26 253 They fish with the same mix of pleasure and boredom as did the white Australian watersiders before them.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1867