What does "roustabout" mean?

An unskilled laborer, especially at an oilfield, at a circus or on a ship.

What is a synonym for "roustabout"?

Common synonyms include: deckhand, ;, bakehead, black gang, blue collar worker, blue-collar worker.

Roustabout

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
An unskilled laborer, especially at an oilfield, at a circus or on a ship. US
"The U. is my own Alma Mater, and I am proud to be known as an alumni, but there are certain instructors there who seem to think we ought to turn the conduct of the nation over to hoboes and roustabouts."
2
a member of a ship's crew who performs manual labor wordnet

Verb

1
To work as a roustabout. intransitive
"When Jack is old and weatherbeat, / Too old to roustabout, / In some rum-shop they’ll let him stop, / At eight bells he’s turned out."

Synonyms

All synonyms

deckhand ;bakehead black gang blue collar worker blue-collar worker

Example

More examples

"The U. is my own Alma Mater, and I am proud to be known as an alumni, but there are certain instructors there who seem to think we ought to turn the conduct of the nation over to hoboes and roustabouts."

Etymology

From roust + about.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.