Meanings
plural pan men
- obsoleteA person employed to empty the contents of the outside toilet (i.e. human excrement) at suburban houses (and similar). Rendered obsolete by the introduction of plumbed (i.e. piped) sewerage systems.
1 more example
The 'dunny' down the back yard was emptied by the council's pan man once a week. — Susan Marsden, essay Argyle, a port worker's home 19 Forbes Street Carrington New South Wales, describing 1920s way of life there https://web.archive.org/web/20060904141530/http://www.heritage.gov.au/ourhouse/essay7.html
Cite this entry
pan man. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pan%20man
“pan man.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pan%20man. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pan man,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pan%20man.
Source: pan man on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.