vagabond

[vag-uh-bond]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR vagabond ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

wandering from place to place without any settled home; nomadic: a vagabond tribe.

leading an unsettled or carefree life.

disreputable; worthless; shiftless.

of, relating to, or characteristic of a vagabond: vagabond habits.

having an uncertain or irregular course or direction: a vagabond voyage.

noun

a person, usually without a permanent home, who wanders from place to place; nomad.

an idle wanderer without a permanent home or visible means of support; tramp; vagrant.

a carefree, worthless, or irresponsible person; rogue.

Nearby words

Origin of vagabond

1400–50; late Middle English vagabound (< Old French vagabond) < Late Latin vagābundus wandering, vagrant, equivalent to Latin vagā(rī) to wander + -bundus adj. suffix

Related formsvag·a·bond·ish, adjective

Synonyms for vagabond

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR vagabond ON THESAURUS.COM

7. hobo, loafer. See vagrant. 8. knave, idler.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for vagabond

Llewyn Davis is a troubadour and vagabond, one who happens to be in grief.
‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ Star Oscar Isaac Is About to Be a Very Big Deal|Kevin Fallon|December 5, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Vagabond, errand-boy, vagabond, labourer, porter, clerk, chief manager, small partner, Josiah Bounderby of Coketown.
David's Bookclub: Hard Times|David Frum|September 24, 2012|DAILY BEAST
“Sarah Palin is a true believer,” Bess told me over coffee at Vagabond Blues, a café 20 miles from Wasilla in the town of Palmer.
Inside Sarah's Church|Max Blumenthal|September 5, 2009|DAILY BEAST
With other vagabond wanderers, the Frenchman had evidently been rummaging old Nor'-West vaults.
Lords of the North|A. C. Laut

No, little Perrine was not a thief, nor a beggar, nor a vagabond.
Nobody's Girl|Hector Malot
It must have been a vagabond robin swaggering there, really deriding nests, he found so much leisure to sing about them.
Old Crow|Alice Brown
What, send that vagabond to the carriage to ferret about there!
The Poor Plutocrats|Maurus Jkai
Down past the terminal and out the Suburban track, bedraggled and undaunted, stalks the vagabond along the way of knowledge.
The Best Short Stories of 1919|Various

British Dictionary definitions for vagabond

vagabond

noun

a person with no fixed home

an idle wandering beggar or thief

(modifier) of or like a vagabond; shiftless or idle

Derived Formsvagabondage, nounvagabondish, adjectivevagabondism, noun

Word Origin for vagabond

C15: from Latin vagābundus wandering, from vagārī to roam, from vagus vague

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 vagabond

adj.

early 15c. (earlier vacabond, c.1400), from Middle French vagabonde, from Late Latin vagabundus "wandering, strolling about," from Latin vagari "wander" (from vagus "wandering, undecided;" see vague) + gerundive suffix -bundus. The noun is first recorded c.1400, earlier wagabund (c.1300).

vagabond

adjective

noun

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of vagabond

Synonyms for vagabond

Examples from the Web for vagabond

vagabond

noun

Word Origin for vagabond