or rouse-about, rouser, subs. (common).—1. See quots.; (2) a fidget, and (3) a term of contempt.
1868. Putnam’s Magazine, Sept., ‘On the Plains.’ As the steamer was leaving the levée, about forty black deck-hands or ROUSTABOUTS gathered at the bow, and sang a rude Western sailor’s song.
1871. DE VERE, Americanisms, 225. The Western rough is frequently a ROUSTABOUT—a term evidently derived from the old English roust, quoted by Jamieson as meaning to disturb. He is noisy, but not necessarily a rowdy, and frequently a useful member of society in some capacity which requires hard work and constant exposure.
1883. EDW. E. MORRIS [Longman’s Magazine, June, 178]. This poor young man had been a ROUSTABOUT hand on a station [in Australia] (a colonial expression for a man who can be put to any kind of work).
1890. New York Sun, 23 March. An old Mississippi ROUSTABOUT.
1894. Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Oct. A rougher person—perhaps a happier—is the ROUSEABOUT, who makes himself useful in the shearing shed … sometimes … spoken of as a ROUSTABOUT.
1883. The American, vi. 40 [Century]. Men … who used to be ROUSTERS, and are now broken down and played out.
