swagman
Americannoun
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swagmen
plural
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a tramp, hobo, or vagabond.
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anyone who carries a swag while traveling, as a camper or prospector.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of swagman
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.
See Examples For:
Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong, Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee.
From Time Magazine Archive
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The Australians, to whom this enthusiasm was second nature, roared into Bardia singing: Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong Under the shade of a coolibah tree.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Macauley, at 35, was a proud and able swagman, i.e., itinerant sheep-station hand, who hated cities, where you always need "a penny for the slot and a key for the door."
From Time Magazine Archive
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Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong, "You'll never take me alive," said he.
From Time Magazine Archive
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About two miles from the Waterholes Philip overtook another swagman, a man of middle age, who was going to Nyalong to look for work.
From The Book of the Bush Containing Many Truthful Sketches Of The Early Colonial Life Of Squatters, Whalers, Convicts, Diggers, And Others Who Left Their Native Land And Never Returned by J. Macfarlane
Very soon, one suspects, the swagmen on Sir Matt Busby Way will have to update their "Giggsy 12 Gerrard 0" T-shirts paying homage to his unprecedented collection of title wins.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 1, 2013
And the swagmen come all day long, and Mrs. Gordon or I have to go and give them something to eat; there's plenty to do, always.
From Outback Marriage, an : a story of Australian life by A. B. (Andrew Barton) Paterson
Why, I’ve heard shearers, and hawkers, and swagmen spouting him by the yard!
From A Bride from the Bush by E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung
For travellers must carry bags, And swagmen have to hump their swags Like bottle-ohs or ragmen.
From The Magic Pudding Being the Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and His Friends Bill Barnacle & Sam Sawnoff by Norman Lindsay
We had long, marvellous talks with different swagmen, as we slowly sauntered north to Newcastle....
From Tramping on Life An Autobiographical Narrative by Harry Kemp
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.