steam navvy

noun

A steam-powered excavator used in making docks, canals, etc.

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Meanings

nounsteam navvy (plural steam navvies)

plural steam navvies

  1. historicalA steam-powered excavator used in making docks, canals, etc.

    Three steam navvies, 350 men, 5 locomotives, and 120 wagons, were employed to remove the one and a half million tons of debris.

    1940 July, “The Why and the Wherefore: Chevet Tunnel Demolition, L.M.S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 430
    1 more example

    A steam navvy was very useful for filling wagons with material from a nearby colliery for an embankment at Camerton. […] Also in September, steam navvies were in use at Combe Hay and Dunkerton, and the foundations of Dunkerton Station were in a forward state.

    1953 April, Colin G. Maggs, “The Hallatrow-Limpley Stoke Line”, in Railway Magazine, page 267, column 1
Cite this entry
APA

steam navvy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steam%20navvy

MLA

“steam navvy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steam%20navvy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “steam navvy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steam%20navvy.

Source: steam navvy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.