coal-whipper

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical: a dock worker who unloaded coal from a ship's hold using a rope-and-counterweight hoisting system

   The coal-whipper dropped his weight on the stage to raise another basket from the hold.

A compound of coal + whipper. The occupation was named for coal-whipping, a dockside method in which workers used a rope, pulley, and counterweight to hoist measures of coal from a ship's hold into barges or onto the wharf.

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