subs. (old: now recognised).—An abbreviation of ‘navigator’: a term humorously applied to excavators employed in cutting and banking canals, making dykes to rivers, &c.
1848. C. KINGSLEY, Yeast, xl. There’s enough of me, sir, to make a good NAVIGATOR if all trades fail.
1863. H. FAWCETT, Manual of political economy, II., v. It was proved that one English NAVVY would do as much work as two French labourers.
1865. M. E. BRADDON, Henry Dunbar, xxvi. Great wooden barricades and mountains of uprooted paving-stones, amidst which sturdy NAVIGATORS disported themselves with spades and pickaxes … blocked the way.
1872. Builder, Aug. The class of men employed in earthwork were very peculiar, and very unlike the ordinary labourers of the country. They were called NAVVIES, from having been employed originally upon works of internal navigation, and they came from the Northern counties, especially Lancashire.
