Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A person without a permanent home who moves from place to place.
- n. A vagrant; a tramp.
- n. A wanderer; a rover.
- adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a wanderer; nomadic.
- adj. Aimless; drifting.
- adj. Irregular in course or behavior; unpredictable.
- v. To lead the life of a vagabond; roam about.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- 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.
- n. One who is without a settled home; one who goes from place to place; a wanderer; a vagrant: not necessarily in a bad sense.
- n. 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.
- n. An idle, worthless fellow; a scamp; a rascal.
- n. One of the Vagabundæ.
- n. A pyralid moth, Crambus vulgivagellus. See cut under Crambidæ.
- To wander about in an idle manner; play the vagabond: sometimes with an indefinite it.
Wiktionary
- n. A person on a trip of indeterminate destination and/or length of time.
- n. A bum, a hobo, a tramp, a homeless person, a rogue, a ne'er-do-well.
- v. To roam, as a vagabond
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Moving from place to place without a settled habitation; wandering.
- adj. Floating about without any certain direction; driven to and fro.
- adj. Being a vagabond; strolling and idle or vicious.
- n. 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.
- v. To play the vagabond; to wander like a vagabond; to stroll.
WordNet 3.0
- v. move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
- adj. continually changing especially as from one abode or occupation to another
- n. a wanderer who has no established residence or visible means of support
- adj. wandering aimlessly without ties to a place or community
- n. anything that resembles a vagabond in having no fixed place
Etymologies
- Middle English vagabonde, from Old French vagabond, from Late Latin vagābundus, wandering, from Latin vagārī, to wander, from vagus, wandering.
Examples
“The life of the vagabond is an existence on the fringes of society.”
Harry Martinson: Catching the Dewdrop, Reflecting the Cosmos
“My main point was that I am glad this vagabond is no longer allowed to molest, rape, and murder our kids fragile little eyes and ears.”
“His white-faced character, Bip, based on the 19th-century French Pierrot, a melancholy vagabond, is famous from his appearances on stage and television throughout the world.”
“But its probably true my wife would have traveled more if shed married someone else, and my unwillingness to become the vagabond is just one of the ways Ive been, as I said, an unexciting if loyal and unwavering companion.”
“For he became a call-boy; and as early as '93 he became a "vagabond" -- the law's ungentle term for an unlisted actor; and in' 94 a "regular" and properly and officially listed member of that (in those days) lightly-valued and not much respected profession.”
“For he became a call-boy; and as early as '93 he became a "vagabond" -- the law's ungentle term for an unlisted actor; and in' 94 a "regular" and properly and officially listed member of that (in those days) lightly valued and not much respected profession.”
“My entire life could be characterized as a vagabond existence.”
Homelessness, Creativity, and Recovery from Bipolar (2005)...with a Postscript...
“A vagabond is a kite lantern nightingale tramp scholar 44 45”
Stanford Achievement Test, Ed. 1922 Advanced Examination, Form A, for Grades 4-8
“He abuseth thee finely, saith thou art a debauched vagabond, which is an insult to me thy serving companion, whom he threatened with the stocks.”
“On their way to the Regan cottage they agree that the vagabond is a suspicious character and look about for him.”
The Best Short Stories of 1919 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘vagabond’.
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Unsavory characters
absconder, aretaloger, arriviste, avaunter, bamboozler, bandit, banger, barbarian, barmecide, barrator, beldam, blatherskite and 190 more...
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He Goes a-Pickarooning
Here be a trove of words and phrases associated (fore or aft) with picarooning / pickarooning, scavenged from Google Books citations.
The Prince Edward Island folksong Mick Riley inspi...wagabone, privateer, at every corner, up and down, pirate, expeditions, life, look, rascals, expedition, literary, adventurers and 53 more...
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ze list
favorites, of all sorts
obscure, pretentious, debacle, vintage, ostentatious, damsel, plethora, requiem, memoir, loathe, lackadaisical, misanthropic and 82 more...
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Stocks and Bonds
stock, bond, stocks and bonds, stockyard, bail bonds, Gary U.S. Bonds, James Bond, stockade, lock, stock and b..., bondmaid, bonded warehouse, bondsman and 57 more...
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The Decemberists for polite everyday conversation
opal, dolor, lithe, infanta, vagabond, courtesan, vestry, skein, dram, magenta, camisole, charlemagne and 8 more...
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Words from poetry you write that you don't use ...
See title
ireland, tattered, contents, silver, springs, waltz, spite, hammock, slackening, firmament, poesy, writ and 24 more...
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Bitty Bites
Lyricism and Lollipops, naysayers forbidden... thanks sucker:)
ephermal, acausal, intricate, seldom, braggart, vagabond, naysayer, psychocunt, iconoclastic, dibbler, smattering, precursor and 4 more...
PossibleUnderscore 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. Jul 28, 2009
bilby
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'. Nov 3, 2008
bilby Thanks WeirdNET. Apr 19, 2008
plethora Aw yeah, gimme some of them vagrant fashion tips. Apr 19, 2008
bilby Like this, maybe. Apr 19, 2008