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tramping

[tram-ping]
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noun
  1. hiking, especially on trails having huts at regular intervals for hikers to use overnight.
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Origin of tramping

First recorded in 1810–20; tramp + -ing1

tramp

[tramp]
verb (used without object)
  1. to tread or walk with a firm, heavy, resounding step.
  2. to tread heavily or trample (usually followed by on or upon): to tramp on a person's toes.
  3. to walk steadily; march; trudge.
  4. to go on a walking excursion or expedition; hike.
  5. to go about as a vagabond or tramp.
  6. to make a voyage on a tramp steamer.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to tramp or walk heavily or steadily through or over.
  2. to traverse on foot: to tramp the streets.
  3. to tread or trample underfoot: to tramp grapes.
  4. to travel over as a tramp.
  5. to run (a ship) as a tramp steamer.
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noun
  1. the act of tramping.
  2. a firm, heavy, resounding tread.
  3. the sound made by such a tread.
  4. a long, steady walk; trudge.
  5. a walking excursion or expedition; hike.
  6. a person who travels on foot from place to place, especially a vagabond living on occasional jobs or gifts of money or food.
  7. a sexually promiscuous woman; prostitute.
  8. a freight vessel that does not run regularly between fixed ports, but takes a cargo wherever shippers desire.Compare cargo liner.
  9. a piece of iron affixed to the sole of a shoe.
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Origin of tramp

1350–1400; Middle English trampen to stamp; cognate with Low German trampen; akin to Gothic ana-trimpan to press hard upon. See traipse, trample
Related formstramp·er, nountramp·ish, adjectivetramp·ish·ly, adverbtramp·ish·ness, nounun·tramped, adjective

Synonyms

See more synonyms for tramp on Thesaurus.com
17. vagrant, bum, hobo.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for tramping

Historical Examples

  • Tramping on in the sand isn't as bad as it might be, either, when one gets used to it.

    Quaint Courtships

    Various

  • Tramping busily all the next day, we climbed everything that could be climbed.

  • Tramping aboard they proceeded to the cabin at the after end of the vessel.

    Boy Scouts in the North Sea

    G. Harvey Ralphson

  • Tramping on, we came to Shortsville, where we stopped for dinner.

    On a Donkey's Hurricane Deck

    R. Pitcher Woodward

  • Tramping over this snare, Jane faced the doctor as he wiped his brows.

    A Prairie Infanta

    Eva Wilder Brodhead

British Dictionary definitions for tramping

tramp

verb
  1. (intr) to walk long and far; hike
  2. to walk heavily or firmly across or through (a place); march or trudge
  3. (intr) to wander about as a vagabond or tramp
  4. (tr) to make (a journey) or traverse (a place) on foot, esp laboriously or wearilyto tramp the streets in search of work
  5. (tr) to tread or trample
  6. (intr) NZ to walk for sport or recreation, esp in the bush
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noun
  1. a person who travels about on foot, usually with no permanent home, living by begging or doing casual work
  2. a long hard walk; hike
  3. a heavy or rhythmic step or tread
  4. the sound of heavy treading
  5. Also called: tramp steamer a merchant ship that does not run between ports on a regular schedule but carries cargo wherever the shippers desire
  6. slang, mainly US and Canadian a prostitute or promiscuous girl or woman
  7. an iron plate on the sole of a boot
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Derived Formstramping, nountrampish, adjective

Word Origin

C14: probably from Middle Low German trampen; compare Gothic ana-trimpan to press heavily upon, German trampen to hitchhike
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for tramping

tramp

v.

late 14c., "walk heavily, stamp," from Middle Low German trampen "to stamp," from Proto-Germanic *tramp- (cf. Danish trampe, Swedish trampa "to tramp, stamp," Gothic ana-trimpan "to press upon"), probably from a variant of the Proto-Germanic source of trap. Related: Tramped; tramping.

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tramp

n.

"person who wanders about, vagabond," 1660s, from tramp (v). Sense of "steamship which takes cargo wherever it can be traded" (as opposed to one running a regular line) is attested from c.1880. The meaning "promiscuous woman" is from 1922.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper