Meanings
plural sandhogs · alternative sand hog · alternative sand-hog
- USalsofigurativelyslangA person employed to dig tunnels, or (more generally) to work underground or under water.
1 more example
Sandhogs working behind a hydraulic shield excavated the riverbed silt inch by inch and installed linking sections of cast-iron tubes as they went. The digging chamber was filled with compressed air pumped in from the surface. The work was dangerous. The men who did the work, the sandhogs, were considered heroes.
1975, E.L. Doctorow, chapter XIII, in Ragtime, page 77Synonyms: sandhogger
present singular third person sandhogs · participle present sandhogging · participle past sandhogged · past sandhogged
- USintransitiveslangTo work at digging tunnels, or (more generally) underground or under water.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person employed to dig tunnels, or (more generally) to work underground or under water.
Origin
From sand + hog, perhaps alluding to a hog (“animal of the Suidae family, especially a boar, pig, or warthog”) digging in sand.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Russian граба́рь, гра́барь
- граба́рь (grabárʹ)person employed to dig tunnels, or to work underground or under water
- гра́барь (grábarʹ)person employed to dig tunnels, or to work underground or under water
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
sandhog. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sandhog
“sandhog.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sandhog. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sandhog,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sandhog.
Source: sandhog on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.