paviour

English

Noun

paviour (plural paviours)

1. A person who lays paving slabs.
   • 1778 April 3, “Appendix. Report from the Committee on the State of the Pavements, &c. in the Streets of Dublin”, in The Journals of the House of Commons, of the Kingdom of Ireland, […], volume XX, Dublin: Printed by Abraham Bradley and Abraham Bradley King, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 539:

     [T]he Contract with the Pipe-water Pavior was, as he recollects, to keep the Pavement in Repair for ſix Weeks; […]

   • 1853, Charles Dickens, Household Words (volume 6, page 387)

     A "mooner," fond of staring into shop windows, or watching the labourers pulling up the pavement to inspect the gas-pipes, or listening stolidly to the dull "pech" of the paviour's rammer on the flags.

2. A machine that is used to tamp down paving slabs.
3. A brick or slab used for paving.

Alternative forms

• pavior