workpeoplen.
/ˈwəːkˌpiːpl/, U.S. /ˈwərkˌpip(ə)l/ People in paid employment, esp. in manual or industrial labour; male and female workers collectively.
ΘΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > [noun] > collectively
workfolkc1425
workpeople1650
1650 S. Hartlib Londons Charity Inlarged sig. C The benefit of selling bread and beer to the work-peopl [sic], &c.
1679 Torry Coal & Salt Wks. (Edinb. Reg. House) f. 3 Eleven bolles..meall deliuered out to the work people.
1730 London Evening Post 18 Aug. He would give 18 d. for the Day to each Man,..and 12 d. to each Woman, which drew together this great Number of Work-People.
1779 in K. Laybourn Brit. Trade Unionism (1991) 16 The Work people in the Woollen Manufactory shall be paid in Money & not in Goods.
1848 J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. I. i. iv. §1. 68 Each capitalist has money, which he pays to his workpeople, and so enables them to supply themselves.
1883 W. D. Curzon Manuf. Industries Worcs. 36 Mechanical skill on the part of the workpeople not being necessary—the machines in fact doing the most part of the work.
1926 Times 28 Oct. 5/7 Class considerations were..apt to be brought in by workpeople just as they used to be brought in by the landed gentry.
1951 Geogr. Jrnl. 117 8 A dockyard venture at Hung Hom, with its associated community of workpeople.
1995 Independent on Sunday 17 Dec. 17/6 Countries like Singapore take pride in improving the living standards of workpeople.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1650