Navvy n. : Originally, a laborer on canals for internal navigation; hence, a laborer on other public works, as in building railroads, embankments, etc.

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Taxonomy
Navvy, navvies, in Britain, tokens, railway, canal, free encyclopedia, manual labourers, railway projects, Workers, food, meal, 1968, the Irish, immigrants, History, contracts, wages.

Defination from the web:
Navvy is a shorter form of navigational engineer (USA) or navigator (UK) and is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on ... Alfred Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion is referred to as a navvy. ...