roustabout
noun
Did you know?
Circus roustabouts are most commonly associated with circus animals, of course, but they also have a connection with game birds, at least in terms of etymology. "Roustabout" comes from "roust," which is an alteration of "rouse," a verb from Middle English that originally meant "to shake the feathers" (as in the way a bird might ruffle its feathers or shake its plumage when it is settling down or grooming itself). "Rouse," which today is a synonym of "awaken," also formerly meant "to cause to break from cover," a sense that may have influenced the modern meaning of "roust": "to drive (as from bed) roughly or unceremoniously."
Synonyms
Examples of roustabout in a Sentence
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 24 Sep. 2024
The musical’s book by Rick Elice, based not just on the 2011 movie but also on the 2006 novel by Sara Gruen, is set among the performers and roustabouts of a ramshackle circus at the depths of the Depression.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2024
In North Dakota, where the oil industry has been struggling to hire roustabouts to operate rigs in the region’s notoriously punishing weather, the state Petroleum Council is recruiting people across the western prairie to act as sponsors for new Ukrainian immigrants who can be put to work.
—Miriam Jordan, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2023
With only an eighth-grade education — there was no high school near his isolated farm — Dad supported a family on an oil worker’s pay, rising through the ranks from roustabout to toolpusher and finally assistant foreman at Shell’s Ventura lease.
—George Skelton, Los Angeles Times, 3 Apr. 2023
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Cite this Entry
“Roustabout.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/roustabout. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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roustabout
noun
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