Meanings
plural longshoremen
- USA man employed to load and unload ships; any person thus employed.
After that, Mr. Givens thought little more of his illness and returned to work as a longshoreman at the Port of New Orleans.
2020 December 12, Pranshu Verma, “‘Very High Risk’: Longshoremen Want Protection From the Virus So They Can Stay on the Job”, in The New York Times1 more example
With hours to go before their labor contract expired, longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts prepared on Monday to go on strike at midnight, halting most activity at some of the busiest U.S. ports.
2024 September 30, Peter Eavis, “Counteroffers Exchanged in Effort to Avert U.S. Dock Strike”, in The New York TimesSynonyms: dockworker
- One who makes a living along the shore by oyster-fishing, etc.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA man employed to load and unload ships; any person thus employed.
Origin
From alongshoreman, from alongshore + -man.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian докер
- докер (doker)man employed to load and unload ships
Finnish ahtaaja
- ahtaajaman employed to load and unload ships
French docker
- dockerman employed to load and unload ships
German Schauerleute
- Schauerleuteman employed to load and unload ships
Italian camallo, scaricatore di porto
- camalloman employed to load and unload ships
- scaricatore di portoman employed to load and unload ships
Japanese 中仕
- 中仕 (nakashi)man employed to load and unload ships
Norwegian Bokmål havnearbeider, bryggearbeider
- havnearbeiderman employed to load and unload ships
- bryggearbeiderman employed to load and unload ships
Polish portowiec, doker
- portowiecman employed to load and unload ships
- dokerman employed to load and unload ships
Portuguese estivador
- estivadorman employed to load and unload ships
Romanian docher, portuar
- docherman employed to load and unload ships
- portuarman employed to load and unload ships
Russian до́кер, гру́зчик
- до́кер (dóker)man employed to load and unload ships
- гру́зчикman employed to load and unload ships
Spanish estibador
- estibadorman employed to load and unload ships
Swedish hamnarbetare, stuveriarbetare
- hamnarbetareman employed to load and unload ships
- stuveriarbetareman employed to load and unload ships
Cite this entry
longshoreman. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/longshoreman
“longshoreman.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/longshoreman. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “longshoreman,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/longshoreman.
Source: longshoreman on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.