noun
longshoreman; stevedore
A dockworker who loads and unloads ships; a somewhat dated term, with 港湾労働者 (こうわんろうどうしゃ) being more common in modern contexts.
彼の祖父は若い頃、沖仲仕として港で働いていた。
His grandfather worked as a longshoreman at the port when he was young.
Compound of 沖 (offshore) + 仲仕 (a dockworker or stevedore). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the term has been used since the Edo period for workers who handled cargo on ships anchored offshore.