navvy(挖土、挖河的)工人(英国)

【使用地区】：英国

【释义】：

This manual laborer or ditchdigger may take his name from the esteemed navigator aboard a ship．Navvy for such an occupation may have been suggested，in about 1825，by a joke about British canal diggers being directors or navigators of ships(the ships could only sail in the directions they dug)．The British also use the expression work like a navvy，q．v．

此词意义如上所示。之所以把挖土、挖河的工人称之为navvy，也许与受人尊敬的职业navigator(航海者，船舶驾驶员)有关。约在1825年，有个笑话说，开凿运河的英国劳工等于就是领航员或船舶驾驶员(船当然只能在他们所挖的河道里航行)。在英国英语中，还有动词短语to work like a navvy(参见该条)。