(n.) A laborer, especially a deck hand, on a river steamboat, who moves the cargo, loads and unloads wood, and the like; in an opprobrious sense, a shiftless vagrant who lives by chance jobs.

bakehead black gang blue-collar worker boilerman breadwinner bungs cabin boy casual casual laborer chips commissary steward common laborer complement day laborer deckhand deckie docker dockhand employee factory worker fireman flunky free lance free-lancer full-time worker gun loader gunner hand hospital steward industrial worker jobber jobholder laborer laboring man landing signalman loader longshoreman mail orderly menial migrant moiler navigator navvy office temporary oiler operative proletarian purser radio operator salaried worker self-employed person servant snip snips sparks stevedore steward stewardess stiff stoker temporary toiler torpedoman wage earner wage slave wageworker watch wharf hand worker workgirl workhand working girl workingman workingwoman workman yeoman