nightmann.
/ˈnʌɪtman/, U.S. /ˈnaɪtˌmæn/ 1. A man employed to empty cesspools, outdoor privies, etc., at night and to remove the waste matter. Also figurative. Now archaic and historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > sanitation > privy or latrine > emptying or cleaning of privies > [noun] > one who
gong farmerc1302
dung farmer1546
nightman1579
jakes farmer1591
jakes barreller1596
lantern-man1599
gold-finder1611
poleman1615
night-farmer1620
jakesman1630
1579 City of London Bk. of Fines (GLMS 87) f.181 Receaved the xxxith of Januarie of Ethelbert Thorne nightman for a fyne ceased vppon hym for that he twyse spilled ordure in th Thamys.
1606 T. Dekker Newes from Hell sig. E2v More stinkingly musty..than the fists of night-men.
1665 Orders Ld. Mayor London in D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year (1722) 54 That no Nightman..be suffered to empty a Vault into any Garden.
1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical iii. 33 A Milch-Ass, to be sold at the Night-Mans in White-Chappel.
1763 C. Johnstone Reverie (new ed.) II. 246 ‘We shall all want..our vaults emptied,’—said the night-man.
1813 T. Moore Intercepted Lett. iv. 291 Who now will be The Nightman of No-Popery?
1827 P. Cunningham Two Years New S. Wales (ed. 2) II. iv. 104 An odour to which that of a nightman's museum of foul abominations is myrrh and frankincense.
1864 E. A. Parkes Man. Pract. Hygiene i. ii. 95 Nightmen, and the collectors and sorters of dust.
1903 Truth (Sydney) 27 Dec. 1/7 Some suburban nightmen have left a poetical appeal for Xmas boxes in the back parlors of patrons.
1935 A. R. D. Fairburn Lett. 11 Sept. (1981) 97 I'm going to be as popular as shit at a nightmen's picnic.
1980 E. Jong Fanny ii. viii. 234 The lowly Nightmen and Polemen whose assorted Stinks call'd forth Memories of the Privies they clean'd.
2. A man who works during the night or on a night shift. Also (slang): a nocturnal wrongdoer or criminal; a burglar.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to conditions > [noun] > one who works at specific time or hours
night worker1601
daysman?1614
nightman1620
dayworker1802
dayman1821
full-timer1839
whole-timer1840
all-night man1861
part-timer1886
all-timer1891
over-timer1910
Saturdayite1932
nine-to-fiver1945
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > burglary > [noun] > by night > one who burgles by night
nightman1928
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to conditions > [noun] > one who works at specific time or hours > illegally
nightman1957
1620 S. Rowlands Night-raven sig. D4v But we haue diuers night men now a daies, That in the darke become such wilfull straies, When they should goe vnto their wiues chast bed.
1827 R. Pollok Course of Time I. iii. 100 And as his thievish fancy seemed to hear The night-man's foot approach, starting alarmed.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick cxxxv. 621 The solitary night-man at the fore-mast-head.
1887 Pall Mall Gaz. 19 Feb. 8/2 The night men usually descend between half-past six and seven.
1928 Amer. Mercury May 78/1 Rowdy-dowdy..was borrowed from the more aristocratic night-men, who use it in this manner: ‘Charge on a town, make as many clouts on the kiester (safe) as necessary, and then battle the irate citizens in a rowdy-dowdy get-a-way.’
1957 M. Banton West Afr. City v. 87 The people hated any type of investigator because so many of them were ‘night men’ (i.e. made an illegal living after dark).
1960 Times 29 Sept. 7/1 A company taxi is usually driven by both a day-man and a night-man.
2001 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 2 July c6 Other night-time professionals..include..the nightman at a funeral parlour, and a private detective.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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