dustman
noun, proper noun
Forms dustmen Dustmans
- noun (UK) A person employed to collect refuse from people's homes and take it to be processed.
- proper noun A surname from German.
Synonyms
bin man garbage collector garbage man garbo refuse collector sanitation engineer trashman ashman binman garbageman trash man garbage carter garbage hauler
Etymology
From dust + -man, as household refuse previously consisted largely of ashes (dust) from domestic fires.
Variant spelling of Northern German Dustmann.
Webster’s 1913
- One whose employment is to remove dirt and defuse. Gay.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “dustman”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details