Meanings
ganger1
plural gangers
- A horse that goes quickly.
- businessOne who oversees a gang of workmen.
'My dad was a railway ganger.'
1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 1593 more examples
I was sent out to a little village called Wee-Wee-Rup where the ganger, Dinny Kelly, gave me an order on the store to get a tent and blankets[.]
1933, Frank Clune, Try Anything Once, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 28Primary responsibility must rest with a ganger. He failed to appreciate the danger of disturbing the track, short of ballast, on a very hot day.
1950 March, “Notes and News: Merstham Quarry Derailment”, in Railway Magazine, page 210The length ganger saw the train passing with the van derailed and promptly telephoned the Sandbach signalman, who restored his signals to danger, but not in time to stop the train before the final derailment occurred.
1961 November, “Talking of Trains: Derailment near Holmes Chapel”, in Trains Illustrated, page 652 - coal miningOne who is employed in conveying the coal through the gangways.
Ganger2
Origin
- Old Englishgangere“a ganger, footman”
- Middle Englishganger
- Englishganger
From Middle English ganger, from Old English gangere (“a ganger, footman”), equivalent to gang + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gunger, West Frisian gonger, Dutch ganger, German Gänger, Danish gjænger, ganger, Swedish gängare, Icelandic gangari.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with ganger
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
ganger. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ganger
“ganger.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ganger. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ganger,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ganger.
Source: ganger on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.