fork grinder

English

Noun

fork grinder (plural fork grinders)

1. (now historical) Someone whose job is to grind metal forks.
   • 1877, John George Wood, Nature's Teachings, page 356:

     There is, perhaps, no trade which is more destructive of human life than that of the fork-grinder was until the peculiar respirator was made obligatory.

   • 2016, Peter Ackroyd, Revolution, Pan Macmillan, published 2017, page 266:

     The fork-grinders of Sheffield worked in an atmosphere of stone and metal particles, where lung disease was endemic […].