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steam navvy. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Noun
steam navvy (plural steam navvies)
- (historical) A steam-powered excavator used in making docks, canals, etc.
1940 July, “The Why and the Wherefore: Chevet Tunnel Demolition, L.M.S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 430:Three steam navvies, 350 men, 5 locomotives, and 120 wagons, were employed to remove the one and a half million tons of debris.
1953 April, Colin G. Maggs, “The Hallatrow-Limpley Stoke Line”, in Railway Magazine, page 267:A steam navvy was very useful for filling wagons with material from a nearby colliery for a embankment at Camerton. […] Also in September, steam navvies were in use at Combe Hay and Dunkerton, and the foundations of Dunkerton Station were in a forward state.