vagrant

[vey-gruh nt] /ˈveɪ grənt/

noun

a person who wanders about idly and has no permanent home or employment; vagabond; tramp.

Law. an idle person without visible means of support, as a tramp or beggar.

a person who wanders from place to place; wanderer; rover.

wandering idly without a permanent home or employment; living in vagabondage:

vagrant beggars.

of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a vagrant:

the vagrant life.

adjective

wandering or roaming from place to place; nomadic.

(of plants) straggling in growth.

not fixed or settled, especially in course; moving hither and thither:

a vagrant leaf blown by the wind.

Origin

1400-50; late Middle English vagaraunt, apparently present participle of Anglo-French *vagrer, perhaps < Middle English *vagren, blend of vagen (< Latin vagārī to wander) and *walcren (> Old French wa(u)crer), equivalent to walc- (see walk) + -r- frequentative suffix + -en infinitive suffix

Related forms

vagrantly, adverb

vagrantness, noun

nonvagrant, adjective

nonvagrantly, adverb

nonvagrantness, noun

unvagrant, adjective

unvagrantly, adverb

unvagrantness, noun

Synonyms

1. Vagrant, vagabond describe an idle, disreputable person who lacks a fixed abode. Vagrant suggests a tramp, a person with no settled abode or livelihood, an idle and disorderly person: picked up by police as a vagrant. Vagabond especially emphasizes the idea of worthless living, often by trickery, thieving, or other disreputable means: Actors were once classed with rogues and vagabonds.

Examples from the web for vagrant

While pleading on almost every page for the rights of the poor, he has no sentimental pity for the idle vagrant.
vagrant: birds are found casually north of mapped range.
vagrant: casual to the east, particularly in fall and winter.
They are astonishing, those eyes: pale and opalescent, with vagrant beams of light glancing from the corneas.
But he's far from a thief or a vagrant, in the usual meanings of those words.
Another, a vagrant sea-captain, is darkly tempestuous and dour.
In the end, after certain vagrant incidents, they are reconciled-but don't ask us why.
That's all there is: vagrant viciousness and coincidence.
And the unctuousness of its expression will take care of a lot of vagrant hopes.
If you can't guess that the answer is zero, proceed directly to the nearest park bench and begin your career as a vagrant.

British Dictionary definitions for vagrant

vagrant

/ˈveɪɡrənt/

noun

a person of no settled abode, income, or job; tramp

a migratory animal that is off course

adjective

wandering about; nomadic

of, relating to, or characteristic of a vagrant or vagabond

moving in an erratic fashion, without aim or purpose; wayward

(of plants) showing uncontrolled or straggling growth

Archaic equivalent vagrom (ˈveɪɡrəm)

Derived Forms

vagrantly, adverb
vagrantness, noun

Word Origin

C15: probably from Old French waucrant (from wancrer to roam, of Germanic origin), but also influenced by Old French vagant vagabond, from Latin vagārī to wander

Word Origin and History for vagrant

mid-15c., perhaps an alteration (by influence of Latin vagari "wander") of Anglo-French wacrant, noun use of present participle of Old French wacrer "to walk or wander," from a Germanic source (e.g. Old Norse valka "wander"). The adjective is recorded from early 15c.