sandhog

noun

sand·​hog ˈsand-ˌhȯg 

-ˌhäg

: a laborer who works in underwater or underground excavation and construction (such as in the building of tunnels or bridge foundations)

Danger is part of the job for the tunnel workers, known as sandhogs, who work beneath New York's streets.

—Ian Fisher

They were all part of the fraternity of sandhogs, a rare breed of tunnel digger whose name comes from the workers who excavated the soft earth under the Brooklyn Bridge in the eighteen-seventies.

—David Grann

Examples of sandhog in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Mr. Donohue made his living as a sandhog, one of the urban miners who dig train and water tunnels deep in New York City’s bedrock. —Corey Kilgannon, New York Times, 29 May 2017

Word History

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above