roughneck

English

Etymology

rough +‎ neck

Noun

roughneck (plural roughnecks)

1. (colloquial, chiefly US) Someone with rough manners; a rowdy or uncouth person. [from 19th c.]
2. (colloquial, chiefly US) An ironworker; a dirty or low-paid worker, a labourer. [from 20th c.]
3. (colloquial, chiefly US) A labourer on an oil rig. [from 20th c.]
   • 2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster 2014, p. 286:

     As for the minerals, there has been a good deal of drilling along the big river; trucks and roughnecks no longer garner any notice.

See also

• roustabout, oil trash
• roughneck on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

roughneck (third-person singular simple present roughnecks, present participle roughnecking, simple past and past participle roughnecked)

1. To work as a laborer on an oil rig