Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person who moves from place to place without a permanent home and often without a regular means of support.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of a vagabond.
  • intransitive verb To wander or travel about, especially as a vagabond.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To wander about in an idle manner; play the vagabond: sometimes with an indefinite it.
  • Wandering; moving from place to place without any settled habitation; nomadic.
  • Floating about without any certain direction; driven to and fro.
  • Of or pertaining to a vagabond or worthless stroller; vagrant.
  • Not sedentary, as a spider; belonging to the Vagabundæ.
  • noun One who is without a settled home; one who goes from place to place; a wanderer; a vagrant: not necessarily in a bad sense.
  • noun An idle, worthless stroller from place to place without, fixed habitation or visible means of earning an honest livelihood; in law, an idle, worthless vagrant. See vagrant.
  • noun An idle, worthless fellow; a scamp; a rascal.
  • noun One of the Vagabundæ.
  • noun A pyralid moth, Crambus vulgivagellus. See cut under Crambidæ.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun 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.
  • adjective Moving from place to place without a settled habitation; wandering.
  • adjective Floating about without any certain direction; driven to and fro.
  • adjective Being a vagabond; strolling and idle or vicious.
  • intransitive verb To play the vagabond; to wander like a vagabond; to stroll.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A person on a trip of indeterminate destination and/or length of time.
  • noun A bum, a hobo, a tramp, a homeless person, a rogue, a ne'er-do-well.
  • verb To roam, as a vagabond

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
  • adjective continually changing especially as from one abode or occupation to another
  • noun a wanderer who has no established residence or visible means of support
  • adjective wandering aimlessly without ties to a place or community
  • noun anything that resembles a vagabond in having no fixed place

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English vagabonde, from Old French vagabond, from Late Latin vagābundus, wandering, from Latin vagārī, to wander, from vagus, wandering.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin vagabundus, from vagari, ‘wander’.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word vagabond.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Like this, maybe.

    April 19, 2008

  • Aw yeah, gimme some of them vagrant fashion tips.

    April 20, 2008

  • Thanks WeirdNET.

    April 20, 2008

  • There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir;

    We must rise and follow her,

    When from every hill of flame

    She calls and calls each vagabond by name.

    - Bliss Carman, 'A Vagabond Song'.

    November 3, 2008

  • Isn't there a reference to this in 'Can You Fell the Love Tonight'? It sounds a lot like they say 'vegabond' though, so I'm not sure.

    July 28, 2009