Earthmovers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Large machines designed to excavate and move earth for construction projects
2. Vehicles that are utilized in shifting soil, rock, or materials during land grading and site preparation
3. Heavy equipment used in construction that primarily aids in digging, transporting, and leveling ground surfaces

Etymology: Earthmovers is simply the plural of "earthmover," a compound of "earth" and "mover." The compound describes what the machines do: they shift soil and rock from one place to another. The term is a plain technical formation, and its earliest uses come from twentieth-century engineering and construction contexts, when mechanized excavation and grading became common. "Earth" here keeps its ordinary sense of loose soil or ground, which is why the word reads so literally.

Synonyms: excavators, bulldozers