blue-collar

[bloo-kol-er] /ˈbluˈkɒl ər/
adjective
1.
of or pertaining to wage-earning workers who wear work clothes or other specialized clothing on the job, as mechanics, longshoremen, and miners.
Compare white-collar.
noun
2.
a blue-collar worker.
Origin
1945-50
Examples from the web for blue-collar
  • It's unclear whether the findings generalize to blue-collar workers and employees in the private sector, the authors report.
  • We know, moreover, that blue-collar workers usually agree to overtime because they want or need the extra money.
  • Rising unemployment rates, stagnant wages and falling living standards prompted blue-collar workers to return to the barricades.
  • The engineers have had to join more teams with blue-collar workers.
  • And you work with blue-collar people, which is so different from the rest of my world.
  • The blue-collar bastion of our red-white-and-blue military is also part of the story.
  • blue-collar layoffs have started turning into white-collar layoffs.
  • The dish maintained its popularity, particularly in blue-collar homes, but dropped the outlandish accoutrements.
  • It's the blue-collar city of neighborhoods and taverns and parishes.
  • The place is blue-collar and modest but well-kept and welcoming.
British Dictionary definitions for blue-collar

blue-collar

adjective
1.
of, relating to, or designating manual industrial workers: a blue-collar union Compare white-collar, pink-collar
blue-collar in Culture

blue-collar definition


A descriptive term widely used for manual laborers, as opposed to white-collar for office workers.

Note: The term is often associated with conservative values.
Slang definitions & phrases for blue-collar

blue-collar

modifier

Working-class: a blue-collar neighborhood/ blue-collar concerns

[1940s+; fr the color of the traditional workshirt]