head beetler

English

Noun

head beetler (plural head beetlers)

1. (archaic, UK, dialect) The leader of a group of workmen.
   • 1920, Seumas MacManus, Top o' the Mornin', page 161:

     The line of flunkies, like a rijiment of tin men workin' on strings, all together threw up their hands in horror, a look on their face like someone stole their last penny, and the head beetler of them, bowin' till his three ends met, said, […]

   • 2016, Patrick Deeley, The Hurley Maker's Son:

     Later Mattie, the 'head beetler' of my father's family, arrived wearing his customary tweed jacket.

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) “the bully of the workshop, who lords it over his fellow-workmen by reason of superior strength, skill in fighting, etc. Sometimes applied to the foreman.”, in The Slang Dictionary