"wheel-barrow man" meaning in English

See wheel-barrow man in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: wheel-barrow men [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|wheel-barrow men}} wheel-barrow man (plural wheel-barrow men)
  1. (US, historical) A convict sentenced to hard labor in the 1800s, especially one sentenced to work maintaining the roads. Tags: US, historical
    Sense id: en-wheel-barrow_man-en-noun-aENCniTP Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 68 32
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see wheel-barrow, man.; a man working with a wheel-barrow.
    Sense id: en-wheel-barrow_man-en-noun-s7f~GDgh

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for wheel-barrow man meaning in English (4.5kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "wheel-barrow men",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "wheel-barrow men"
      },
      "expansion": "wheel-barrow man (plural wheel-barrow men)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "68 32",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1845, Pennsylvania Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy, page 3",
          "text": "At the outset of the reformatory process in Pennsylvania, it was thought that a salutary effect would result from long continued, visible, or public punishment, by degrading labour in the streets or upon the highways ; ... and many persons, now living, can distinctly remember when convicts (sometimes called “Wheel-barrow Men”) were to be seen at work in the streets of Philadelphia with a chain and clog upon the neck or leg, and other badges of degradation and guilt.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1860, Thomas Hart Benton, Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856",
          "text": "Are crimes more frequent in that country than in the other States ? Are there more executions ? I believe there have been as few as in any part of the Continent, and those which have token place have been generally of emigrant convicts, or fugitive •wheel-barrow men ; he would be bold to assert that in no State on the Continent is there more order, sobriety, and obedience to good government; more industry and frugality; nor is there any trace of the influence of slavery on the character of her citizens.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1876, The First Century of the Republic: A Review of American Progress",
          "text": "Under the former system, the convicts of Philadelphia were obliged to perform labor in the public streets under degrading circumstances. These prisoners were called \" the wheel-barrow men,\" and were often exposed to insult and ill-treatment by the mob.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967, Negley King Teeters, Jack H. Hedblom, \"... Hang by the neck ...\": the legal use of scaffold and noose, gibbet, stake, and firing squad from colonial times to the present, page 119",
          "text": "\"wheel-barrow men\" — felons from the county jail who were condemned earlier by a strange law to sweep the streets \"publickly and disgracefully weighted down with irons.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1986, John P. Kaminski, Gaspare J. Saladino, The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, Volume XVI",
          "text": "And moreover, the aforesaid Centinel, as a false traitor, &c. in order to fulfil those his most horrid and diabolical treasons, and traiterous compassings, imaginations and purposes aforesaid, and to leave nothing undone, which envy, hatred, malice, ambition and a diabolical heart could suggest, did collogue with certain wheel-barrow men, convicts and criminals, now in the new gaol of the city and county of Philadelphia, ...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1987, Glen A. Gildemeister, Prison Labor and Convict Competition With Free Workers in Industrializing America, 1840-1890, page 6",
          "text": "This act, passed on September 15, 1?86, hoped \"to produce such strong impression upon the minds of others as to deter them from committing like offenses\" by sentencing convicts to \"hard labor, publicly and disgracefully imposed.\" Chained and clogged, these \"wheel-barrow men\" worked by day cleaning and repairing public roadways and buildings.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990, Paul Joseph Travers, The Patapsco: Baltimore's River of History, page 73",
          "text": "The roads were repaired and maintained by \"wheel-barrow men,\" convicts sentenced for lesser crimes and assigned to work projects.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A convict sentenced to hard labor in the 1800s, especially one sentenced to work maintaining the roads."
      ],
      "id": "en-wheel-barrow_man-en-noun-aENCniTP",
      "links": [
        [
          "convict",
          "convict"
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        [
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        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, historical) A convict sentenced to hard labor in the 1800s, especially one sentenced to work maintaining the roads."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "historical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see wheel-barrow, man.; a man working with a wheel-barrow."
      ],
      "id": "en-wheel-barrow_man-en-noun-s7f~GDgh",
      "links": [
        [
          "wheel-barrow",
          "wheel-barrow#English"
        ],
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        ],
        [
          "wheel-barrow",
          "wheel-barrow"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "wheel-barrow man"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "wheel-barrow men",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "wheel-barrow men"
      },
      "expansion": "wheel-barrow man (plural wheel-barrow men)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1845, Pennsylvania Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy, page 3",
          "text": "At the outset of the reformatory process in Pennsylvania, it was thought that a salutary effect would result from long continued, visible, or public punishment, by degrading labour in the streets or upon the highways ; ... and many persons, now living, can distinctly remember when convicts (sometimes called “Wheel-barrow Men”) were to be seen at work in the streets of Philadelphia with a chain and clog upon the neck or leg, and other badges of degradation and guilt.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1860, Thomas Hart Benton, Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856",
          "text": "Are crimes more frequent in that country than in the other States ? Are there more executions ? I believe there have been as few as in any part of the Continent, and those which have token place have been generally of emigrant convicts, or fugitive •wheel-barrow men ; he would be bold to assert that in no State on the Continent is there more order, sobriety, and obedience to good government; more industry and frugality; nor is there any trace of the influence of slavery on the character of her citizens.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1876, The First Century of the Republic: A Review of American Progress",
          "text": "Under the former system, the convicts of Philadelphia were obliged to perform labor in the public streets under degrading circumstances. These prisoners were called \" the wheel-barrow men,\" and were often exposed to insult and ill-treatment by the mob.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967, Negley King Teeters, Jack H. Hedblom, \"... Hang by the neck ...\": the legal use of scaffold and noose, gibbet, stake, and firing squad from colonial times to the present, page 119",
          "text": "\"wheel-barrow men\" — felons from the county jail who were condemned earlier by a strange law to sweep the streets \"publickly and disgracefully weighted down with irons.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1986, John P. Kaminski, Gaspare J. Saladino, The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, Volume XVI",
          "text": "And moreover, the aforesaid Centinel, as a false traitor, &c. in order to fulfil those his most horrid and diabolical treasons, and traiterous compassings, imaginations and purposes aforesaid, and to leave nothing undone, which envy, hatred, malice, ambition and a diabolical heart could suggest, did collogue with certain wheel-barrow men, convicts and criminals, now in the new gaol of the city and county of Philadelphia, ...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1987, Glen A. Gildemeister, Prison Labor and Convict Competition With Free Workers in Industrializing America, 1840-1890, page 6",
          "text": "This act, passed on September 15, 1?86, hoped \"to produce such strong impression upon the minds of others as to deter them from committing like offenses\" by sentencing convicts to \"hard labor, publicly and disgracefully imposed.\" Chained and clogged, these \"wheel-barrow men\" worked by day cleaning and repairing public roadways and buildings.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990, Paul Joseph Travers, The Patapsco: Baltimore's River of History, page 73",
          "text": "The roads were repaired and maintained by \"wheel-barrow men,\" convicts sentenced for lesser crimes and assigned to work projects.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A convict sentenced to hard labor in the 1800s, especially one sentenced to work maintaining the roads."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "convict",
          "convict"
        ],
        [
          "hard labor",
          "hard labor"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, historical) A convict sentenced to hard labor in the 1800s, especially one sentenced to work maintaining the roads."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "historical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see wheel-barrow, man.; a man working with a wheel-barrow."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "wheel-barrow",
          "wheel-barrow#English"
        ],
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        ],
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          "wheel-barrow",
          "wheel-barrow"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "wheel-barrow man"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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