a person employed to undertake toilsome physical tasks
ditchdigger in American English
(ˈdɪtʃˌdɪɡər)
noun
1.
a worker whose occupation is digging ditches, esp. with pick and shovel
2.
a person engaged in exhausting manual work, esp. work that requires little or no originality
3. Also called: ditcher, trencher
a power excavating machine designed to remove earth in a continuous line and to a predetermined width and depth, as by means of a rotating belt equipped with scoops
Derived forms
ditchdigging
noun or adjective
Word origin
[1895–1900; ditch + digger]This word is first recorded in the period 1895–1900. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: apothecaries' measure, calling card, cutback, freewheel, hit-and-run