as in longshoreman
one who loads and unloads ships at a port a trade embargo that was especially hard on the nation's dockhands

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dockhand Two of the eight tainted Tylenol bottles came from Jewel stores in the northwest suburbs, though neither had passed through the Melrose Park warehouse where Arnold had long worked for Jewel as a dockhand. Chicago Tribune, 29 Sep. 2022 Alhonna is the genesis of the crime drama, where screenwriter Bill Dubuque worked as a dockhand in his youth at the comfortable, somewhat dated, lake retreat. Mike and Wendy Pramik, cleveland, 7 July 2022 Just stepping onto the log from the dock, then maintaining balance as the log was pushed out into the water by dockhands with poles, looked like a challenge. David G. Molyneaux, miamiherald, 19 Aug. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dockhand
Noun
  • All 41 members of the Maritime Alliance, a group that includes port operating companies and shipping lines, voted for the contract, which covers the roughly 25,000 longshoremen who move containers on the East and Gulf Coasts.
    Peter Eavis, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Tens of thousands of longshoremen could walk off the job from Maine to Texas next week if their union and management can’t resolve long-running contract issues.
    Taylor Giorno, The Hill, 8 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • Docks depended on a circulating pool of male maritime workers—crews of seamen and stokers who manned the tramp steamers, gangs of longshoremen, and stevedores who loaded and unloaded goods, as well as artisans and machinists who maintained and repaired the ships and trains.
    Michael Denning, Foreign Affairs, 21 Aug. 2015
  • America dodged a sledgehammer on Thursday night, when striking stevedores reached a tentative agreement to return to work.
    Dan Primack, Axios, 4 Oct. 2024
Noun
  • At the Port of Los Angeles, dockworkers moved 921,616 TEUs, up 24.1 percent from the prior December.
    Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 28 Jan. 2025
  • Recent months have seen labor unions win significant concessions from employers, following high-profile strikes by Boeing factory workers, dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports, video game performers, and hotel and casino employees on the Las Vegas Strip.
    Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 10 Jan. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Dockhand.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dockhand. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.

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