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Feb 11, 2009
This week's theme
Words derived from birds

This week's words
columbarium
pied
roustabout
crestfallen
canard

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

roustabout

PRONUNCIATION:
(ROUST-uh-bout)

MEANING:
noun: A casual or unskilled laborer, especially on an oil rig.

ETYMOLOGY:
From roust, perhaps an alteration of rouse (to shake feathers, as of a hawk).

USAGE:
"But Smith has made it, for 18 years, starting as a roustabout in Long Beach and working his way up to lead operator overseeing the daily workings of Platform B off Santa Barbara's coast."
Zeke Barlow; Platform Workers At Peace With Long Hours, Workweek; Ventura County Star (California); Feb 1, 2009.

See more usage examples of roustabout in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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I believe I have no prejudices whatsoever. All I need to know is that a man is a member of the human race. That's bad enough for me. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

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