canecutter

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English

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Etymology

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From cane +‎ cutter.

Noun

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canecutter (plural canecutters)

  1. A person employed to harvest sugar cane.
    • 1981, Carmelo Mesa-Lago, The Economy of Socialist Cuba: A Two-decade Appraisal, page 62:
      It was decided to calculate costs of voluntary labor beforehand to assure a "net” contribution to the harvest and that unions selected the most productive canecutters.
    • 1964, Favourite Australian Bush Songs, page 137:
      This mournful melody from Queensland tells of the woes and misfortunes of early canecutters.
  2. A machine for harvesting sugar cane.
    • 1995, Glenn R. Conrad, Ray F. Lucas, White Gold, page 17:
      Harvesting, before the arrival of the mechanical canecutter, was performed by large numbers of workers wielding long knives.