freighthopping

Or freight hop·ping

[freyt-hop-ing]

noun

1. the act of illegally and surreptitiously boarding and riding in or on a car of a freight train.

   After months of freighthopping around the West, I settled down to write a book.

Other Word Forms

• freighthopper noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of freighthopping¹

First recorded in 1915–20; freight ( def. ), hopping ( def. ) (in the sense “going from place to place”)

Example Sentences

The singer-songwriter, 35, began freighthopping when she was 23 years old after befriending some itinerant musicians in her hometown Charleston, W.Va.

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