swamper
(ˈswɒmpə(r))
[f. swamp n. or v. + -er1.]
1. U.S. a. A workman who clears a road for lumberers in a ‘swamp’ or forest.
| 1857 Thoreau Maine W. i. (1912) 57 The company consists of choppers, swampers,—who make roads,—barker and loader, teamster, and cook. 1880 Lumberman's Gaz. 28 Jan., A Wisconsin lumber-camp is divided into ‘choppers’, ‘sawyers’ and swampers. |
b. A man-of-all-work in a liquor saloon. Also, an assistant to a cook.
| 1907 in Thornton American Glossary. 1907 Oregonian (Portland) 13 Oct. 8/1 He was a swamper in a saloon. 1929 Collier's 5 Jan. 33/1 As a result it became pay dirt, and in later years the swamper actually had to pay for his job. 1939 P. A. Rollins Gone Haywire 65 Until the call was given, the average cook permitted nobody to approach the fire except the helper whom he rarely had, and who was known as the flunky, roustabout, swamper, or cook's louse. 1962 E. Lucia Klondike Kate iii. 81 The [theatrical] company had its own bartenders and swampers. 1979 D. Anthony Long Hard Cure ii. 20 He'd returned promptly to his apartment over the tavern. His Negro swamper bore him out. |
c. An assistant to a driver of horses, mules, or bullocks. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1870 Daily Territorial Enterprise (Virginia City, Nevada) 21 Apr. 3/1 A ‘swamper’ is a man who goes with the driver of a 10, 12, or 14-mule team as his assistant—the driver being chief engineer and the swamper first-assistant. 1926 K. S. Prichard Working Bullocks i. 6 Red Burke shouted to the bullocks... His swamper yelled and danced. 1960 A. Downs Wagon Road North 43 Many drivers were accompanied by a ‘swamper’, who was usually a young fellow apprenticed to the teaming business. The swamper looked after the horses, including rounding them up in the morning, usually about four o'clock, and in general assisted the teamster with the over-all duties of freighting. |
d. One who travels on foot but has his swag carried on a wagon; hence, one who obtains a lift. Cf. swamp v. 6. Austral. slang.
| 1901 M. Vivienne Travels in W. Australia 284 A ‘swamper’ is a man tramping without his swag, which he entrusts to a teamster to bring on his waggon... While on foot the swamper will generally leave the track, and prospect. 1929 J. Raeside Golden Days 380 With many a swamper's swag on And many a billy black. 1966 T. Ronan Once there was Bagman i. 15 My..fellow swamper tossed his swag off [the mailman's truck] here; he was home. |
e. An assistant to the driver of a lorry. N. Amer. slang.
| 1929 Amer. Speech IV. 345 Swamper, a helper on an auto truck. 1953 C. Armstrong Catch-as-catch-Can xiv. 114 The driver of this linen service truck, told his swamper..to stay with it. 1963 Sun (Vancouver) 28 Feb. 1/5 A wood truck swamper was charged $25 each for two stolen kisses Wednesday. 1975 E. Iglauer Denison's Ice Road viii. 194 We don't have swampers, a second man on the truck, the way the oil-field men have. |
2. An inhabitant of a swampy district. U.S.
| [1735 J. Belcher in New Hampshire Provincial Papers (1870) IV. 878 The B B's Pr—st is a jolly Fellow. I hear he stood Kick and Cuff upon the Road with some Swampeers.] 1775 N. Carolina Gaz. (New Berne) 24 Mar. 3/3 Fellow Dismalites and Swampers, are we not the Men whom God hath appointed to curb the Insolence of Britain. 1857 J. D. Long Pictures of Slavery xvii. 323, I made an appointment to deliver a temperance address to the ‘swampers’. 1891 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 9 Apr. 2/3 It has a high reputation among the swampers as a remedy for rheumatism. |
3. One who swamps or overwhelms, as by superior numbers. nonce-use.
| 1884 Sat. Rev. 12 July 37/2 Mr. Gladstone asks them to swamp themselves without inquiring how they are to be swamped, and to admit their swampers without inquiring how the swampers are to be treated in the way of assigning seats to them. |