■ noun ( plural navvies ) Brit. dated a labourer employed in the excavation and construction of a road, railway, or canal.
Word History
Navvy is a shortening of navigator , which in the 18th century came to denote, as well as a sailor skilled in navigation, a labourer employed in canal construction (in some regions a canal was known as a navigation ). The word navigate derives from navis , the Latin word for 'ship', which gave rise to navy and also to the nave or long central part of a church or cathedral, whose shape was likened to that of a ship.