vagabond
Noun · Verb · AdjectiveOpen English WordNet
Noun (2)vagabonds
- anything that resembles a vagabond in having no fixed place“pirate ships were vagabonds of the sea”Type of object, physical object
- a wanderer who has no established residence or visible means of supportSynonyms: vagrantdrifterfloaterclochardType of wanderer, poor personKinds tramp, sundowner, beachcomber
Verb (1)vagabonds
- move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment“The gypsies roamed the woods”“roving vagabonds”“the wandering Jew”“The cattle roam across the prairie”“the laborers drift from one town to the next”“They rolled from town to town”Synonyms: rollwanderswanstraytramproamcastrambleroverangedriftMore general travel, goMore specific gallivant, maunderSimilar stray, wander
Adjective (2)
- wandering aimlessly without ties to a place or community“led a vagabond life”“a rootless wanderer”Synonyms: rootlessOpposite settledSimilar unsettled
- continually changing especially as from one abode or occupation to another“a drifting double-dealer”“the floating population”“vagrant hippies of the sixties”Synonyms: aimlessdriftingfloatingvagrantOpposite settledSimilar unsettled
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: F., fr. L. vagabundus, from vagari to stroll about, from vagus strolling. See Vague.
1. Moving from place to place without a settled habitation; wandering. “Vagabond exile.” William Shakespeare
2. Floating about without any certain direction; driven to and fro.
To heaven their prayers Flew up, nor missed the way, by envious winds Blown vagabond or frustrate.— John Milton
3. Being a vagabond; strolling and idle or vicious.
One who wanders from place to place, having no fixed dwelling, or not abiding in it, and usually without the means of honest livelihood; a vagrant; a tramp; hence, a worthless person; a rascal.
A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be.— Gen. iv. 12.
☞ In English and American law, vagabond is used in bad sense, denoting one who is without a home; a strolling, idle, worthless person. Vagabonds are described in old English statutes as “such as wake on the night and sleep on the day, and haunt customable taverns and alehouses, and routs about; and no man wot from whence they came, nor whither they go.” In American law, the term vagrant is employed in the same sense. Cf Rogue, noun, 1. Alexander Mansfield. Burrill Bouvier, John
To play the vagabond; to wander like a vagabond; to stroll.
On every part my vagabonding sight Did cast, and drown mine eyes in sweet delight.— William of Hawthornden Drummond
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54