tramp

[tramp] /træmp/
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.
verb (used with object)
7.
to tramp or walk heavily or steadily through or over.
8.
to traverse on foot:
to tramp the streets.
9.
to tread or trample underfoot:
to tramp grapes.
10.
to travel over as a tramp.
11.
to run (a ship) as a tramp steamer.
noun
12.
the act of tramping.
13.
a firm, heavy, resounding tread.
14.
the sound made by such a tread.
15.
a long, steady walk; trudge.
16.
a walking excursion or expedition; hike.
17.
a person who travels on foot from place to place, especially a vagabond living on occasional jobs or gifts of money or food.
18.
a sexually promiscuous woman; prostitute.
19.
a freight vessel that does not run regularly between fixed ports, but takes a cargo wherever shippers desire.
Compare cargo liner.
20.
a piece of iron affixed to the sole of a shoe.
Origin
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 forms
tramper, noun
trampish, adjective
trampishly, adverb
trampishness, noun
untramped, adjective
Synonyms
17. vagrant, bum, hobo.
Examples from the web for tramp
  • To his credit, he prefers to tramp the dust and listen to people.
  • Characters in your films have excavated ancient sites and traveled the world aboard tramp steamers.
  • It should be the problem and tramp set by the capitalists.
  • Funny how unprincipled these editors can be when sentimentalism can easily tramp concrete economic matters.
  • Scruffy he might be, with tie askew and too-short trousers, but he was not a tramp.
  • He becomes besotted with her, even though she really is a selfish tramp.
  • They are simply lowdown variations of the old-fashioned genus tramp.
  • Now was heard again the clangor of the music, and the measured tramp of the military escort, issuing from the church-door.
  • Their tramp steamers, more numerous every year, were trading to all the ports of the world.
  • She was absolutely happy to come on a tramp steamer.
British Dictionary definitions for tramp

tramp

/træmp/
verb
1.
(intransitive) to walk long and far; hike
2.
to walk heavily or firmly across or through (a place); march or trudge
3.
(intransitive) to wander about as a vagabond or tramp
4.
(transitive) to make (a journey) or traverse (a place) on foot, esp laboriously or wearily: to tramp the streets in search of work
5.
(transitive) to tread or trample
6.
(intransitive) (NZ) to walk for sport or recreation, esp in the bush
noun
7.
a person who travels about on foot, usually with no permanent home, living by begging or doing casual work
8.
a long hard walk; hike
9.
a heavy or rhythmic step or tread
10.
the sound of heavy treading
11.
Also called tramp steamer. a merchant ship that does not run between ports on a regular schedule but carries cargo wherever the shippers desire
12.
(slang, mainly US & Canadian) a prostitute or promiscuous girl or woman
13.
an iron plate on the sole of a boot
Derived Forms
tramping, noun
trampish, adjective
Word Origin
C14: probably from Middle Low German trampen; compare Gothic ana-trimpan to press heavily upon, German trampen to hitchhike
Word Origin and History for 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.

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.

Slang definitions & phrases for tramp

tramp

noun

A promiscuous woman; a harlot; Punchboard (1922+)