rodbuster

n. a construction worker who installs steel reinforcing rods, known as rebar, where they will be covered by concrete. Subjects: English, Construction & Buildings, Employment, Slang

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Citations: 1952 Hammond Times (Indiana) (June 3) p. 13: Former world’s welterweight boxing champion, Fritzie Zivic of Pittsburgh now is a “rod buster” for the Penn Southern Construction Company. 1966 Hammond Times (Indiana) (Sept. 25) “Steel Giants Growing” p. C2: Rodbuster climbs reinforcing bars at YST pit. 1987 Lonn Johnston Los Angeles Times (Dec. 25) “A Modern Mobile Profession: Making Spot Spotless” p. 2: Her husband pitched in at the beginning to help her struggling business but kept his $40,000-a-year job as a union “rod-buster” to keep the family going. 1994 Anne Keegan Chicago Tribune (Feb. 3) “Chicago Speak” p. 1: Rod buster: The worker who sets the reinforced steel rods that are to be covered by concrete. 2006 Carl Nolte San Francisco Chronicle (California) (Aug. 13) “Crew adores Rincon tower but can’t afford to live there”: There are 98 men and two women on the job—carpenters, ironworkers (“rodbusters,” they are called), laborers and some others.

Posted 16 Aug 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

rodbuster n. the baddest son of a bitch on the planet, they build America one tie at a time.

by smithers 28 Apr 07, 0354 GMT