Nightman
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person whose job is cleaning cesspools or sewers, or emptying privies by night. historical
"Near-synonym: shit-carter"
- 2 A male night shift worker. dated
"Most men who are of sufficient intelligence and moral character to make thoroughly satisfactory block signalmen will naturally seek a respite occasionally from such a confining routine, and if they cannot accomplish this without securing a substitute at their own expense they are under constant temptation to “change off”—the day man working for the nightman and the nightman for the day."
- 3 A nightwatchman; a guard who works at night.
Example
More examples"1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year, London: E. Nutt (etc.), p. 54, That the Laystalls be removed as far as may be out of the City, and common Passages, and that no Nightman or other be suffered to empty a Vault into any Garden near about the City."
Etymology
From night + -man.
Related phrases
More for "nightman"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.