dustman

See also: Dustman

English

Three dustmen at work

Etymology

From dust +‎ -man, as household refuse previously consisted largely of ashes (dust) from domestic fires.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

dustman (plural dustmen)

1. (British) A person employed to collect refuse from people's homes and take it to be processed.
   • 1960, Lonnie Donegan, My Old Man's A Dustman:

     Oh, my old man's a dustman
     He wears a dustman’s hat
     He wears cor-blimey trousers
     And he lives in a council flat.

Synonyms

• bin man (UK)
• garbage collector (US, Canada)
• garbage man (US, Canada)
• garbo (Australia)
• refuse collector (UK)
• sanitation engineer (US, Canada)
• trashman (US, Canada)
• See Thesaurus:garbage collector

Coordinate terms

• (gender): dustwoman f

Translations

garbage collector — see garbage collector