roustabout

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Shane's father, Maurice, who also described himself as something of a "roustabout", would, he said, try to read James Joyce's famously impenetrable, Finnegan's Wake with an 11-year-old Shane.

From BBC • Nov. 30, 2023

As a former construction worker, he had the foundation, with some additional training, to begin working as a roustabout, assembling and repairing equipment in the offshore oil industry two years ago.

From Seattle Times • May 4, 2023

Lives Lived: Charles W. Duncan Jr. got into the energy business as a Texas roustabout digging pipeline ditches and later became Jimmy Carter’s energy secretary at the height of the 1979 oil crisis.

From New York Times • Oct. 19, 2022

Their works and lives were dazzling, disruptive; their “beating heart,” per Calhoun, was the late, incandescent poet, curator and adored roustabout, Frank O’Hara — whom Schjeldahl idolized.

From Washington Post • Jun. 17, 2022

At nine on the nose, the man in the wagon beckons forth the first person, a roustabout.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen