dayhand

plural dayhands

1. A general laborer hired and paid on a daily basis, rather than through a long-term contract or a set salary.

   I'd save 'bout half on my day hands who live and board at home.

   1896, Daily public ledger (Maysville, Ky.), “The Farmer's Friend”, in Daily public ledger (Maysville, Ky.): 1896-10-09

   5 more examples

   I think, for most kinds of business, ten hours per day should constitute a day's work. My day hands do not average much more than nine hours.

   1870, Massachusetts. Bureau of Statistics of Labor., “STATISTICS OP LAB”, in Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor (1870), page 224

   [...] he found employment with the Excelsior Alining Company. The latter were running two shifts of men in their mill, the day hands receiving $5 and the night hands $6 for ten hours work. Mr. Eades continued in the employ of this company for nineteen months, during which time he accumulated $1,350

   1911, Gregory, Thomas Jefferson, History of Sonoma County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county, who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present time, page 402

   Let me say it is my belief that there will be no necessity for increasing the mine equipment and providing new mine cars or even increasing the dayhands employed in the mine

   1920, McGrawl-Hill Company, Coal age XVII, page 194

   Other planters put their land into the growing of vegetables and fruits, especially peaches. Here again dayhands were used to do the work.

   1937, United States. Farm Security Administration, Flint River Farms, Georgia, page 2

   Dayhands might be cocky enough to run an unregistered woodsie along country roads at night. But certainly not along Lakeville Avenue.

   1988, Waterbridge, Edmund, Hinterland, page 372