hawk boy

plural hawk boys

1. datedA plasterer's (male) attendant who supplied him with mortar.

   The hawk boy's server is about the size and shape of a common garden hoe, but the handle is in the direction of the instrument.

   1867, Arthur Ashpitel, Treatise on Architecture

   2 more examples

   Whenever any mischief or damage was done, rightly or wrongly, the plasterers' hawk-boys always had the credit of it. The plasterers of London should rejoice that the hawk-boys are abolished.

   1879, The Builder, page 1301

   In London and the South of England plasterers formerly had attendants called "hawk-boys," each pair of plasterers having one to wait upon them. The hawk-boy's duty was to knock up and gauge all the materials, keep the men's tools clean, look after the warming of their meals, and serve the materials when gauged.

   1905, William Millar, Plastering: Plain and Decorative, page 550