roughneck

English

Etymology

rough +‎ neck

Noun

roughneck (plural roughnecks)

1. Any labourer on an oil rig
2. A rowdy or uncouth person

See also

• roustabout, oil trash
• Roughneck on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

roughneck (third-person singular simple present roughnecks, present participle roughnecking, simple past and past participle roughnecked)

1. To work as a laborer on an oil rig
   • 2009 January 13, Michael Brick, “Racing's Last Frontier”:

     There was a time not long ago when this region appeared as some enduring mystification, its citizenry best known for roughnecking on the North Slope […]