tramp steamer
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of tramp steamer
First recorded in 1885–90
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.
In 1950, at 18, Jacques went to sea on a tramp steamer running coal between Dunkirk, France, and Algiers, the capital of Algeria, the rebellious French possession.
From New York Times • Sep. 26, 2019
This seminal science-fiction movie was in effect a transposition to outer of a Conrad novel about a run-down tramp steamer picking up a lethally dangerous passenger from a remote island.
From The Guardian • Jun. 2, 2012
A little tramp steamer, her name roughly painted out, chugged into the harbor, noisily dropped her mud hook.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
Off the shore of New York's Long Island, a rusty tramp steamer called the Golden Venture runs aground, disgorging nearly 300 frightened Chinese trying to enter the country illegally; 10 die.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
Another possibility was taking a boat or a tramp steamer, but that might be too prolonged.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
![]()
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.