gentleman of the road
Americannoun
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a highwayman.
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a tramp or hobo.
Etymology
Origin of gentleman of the road
First recorded in 1720–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett Mr Martin is as smooth as any gentleman of the road.
From The Guardian • May 18, 2012
Mr. H. B. Marriott Watson has invented a gentleman of the road, Dick Ryder, of whom his publishers, Methuen, confess themselves very proud in that nice way they have.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, March 22, 1916 by Seaman, Owen, Sir
And the truth is that Turpin was never a gentleman of the road at all!
From A Book of Scoundrels by Whibley, Charles
That fine flower of eighteenth century lawlessness, the gentleman of the road, carried his audacities into the heart of the Town itself.
From Henry Fielding: a Memoir by Godden, G. M.
It has no past; no gentleman of the road ever robbed its passengers; no road-agent nowadays would think of ‘holding it up.’
From Vistas of New York by Matthews, Brander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
