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navvies "

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    • \ ˈna-vē \

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    [Noun]  | "nav*vy" | \ ˈna-vē \


    1: an unskilled laborer


    Origin: 1829 ;

     By shortening & alteration from navigator construction worker on a canal;

     [ "Navvies" ]

    1: Unskilled workers on a major building project. Derived from large numbers of Irish workers who came to England in the mid-1700's to dig out the navigational canals.

      * e.g.,  ... It took a few thousand navvies to build the Channel Tunnel. 

     [ "Navvie" ]

    1: (a) Worker (british)

      * e.g.,  ... "Hey Bryan, let's play the Chaos Engine. I'll pick the Navvie." 


     [ "Navvie" ]

    2: (b) Character in the Bitmap Bros "The Chaos Engine"

     [ "Navvy Gravvy" ]

    1: Unlike Itsy Bitsy and Teeny Weeny, Navvy Gravvy doesn't refer to just a small size but to a small amount. A navvy gravy is a very small amount, a little tiny bit, a very fine shaving. In common use within the Royal Dockyards where very small adjustments have to be made, by shipwrights and shipfitters, to customise components in order to get them to fit correctly. Thought to date from around the mid-nineteenth century when many tasks in shipbuilding were still carried out by 'eye', although the origins or the words themselves are not entirely clear, it is still in use today where non-standard sized items have to be adjusted to fit.

      * e.g.,  ... "If we just take a navvy gravvy off that leading edge, it'll fit perfect." 


     [ "Navvy Gravvy" ]

    2: As an illustration; if a hole is drilled in a piece of metal to take a bolt, the hole is the correct size but the bolt doesn't fit. The drill is then run through the hole again and the bolt fits. Careful examination may reveal a few grains of metal dust or the tiniest finest curl of swarf removed by the drill, that tiny amount is a navvy gravvy.

     [ "Navvy savvy" ]

    1: Someone who is good at finding their way around (navvy - navigation; savvy - knowledge, ability)

      * e.g.,  ... That guy's really navvy savvy. 

     [ "tech navvy" ]

    1: The opposite of tech savvy. A person that is bad with tech (naive).

      * e.g.,  ... "-Danny, could you please close some programs on your laptop, it's going to die! 

     [ "Navvy" ]

    1: Kaz is his dad.

      * e.g.,  ... This is use by making Navvy kaz's son 

     [ "Navvy" ]

    1: This word means someone's son or daughter

      * e.g.,  ... Hey Navvy you are kaz's son right? 

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