ZebraWords.com - The Definition of 'Vagabond', Synonyms of 'Vagabond' & More on 'Vagabond'

1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)

vagabond
    adj 1: wandering aimlessly without ties to a place or community;
           "led a vagabond life"; "a rootless wanderer" [syn:
           rootless, vagabond]
    2: continually changing especially as from one abode or
       occupation to another; "a drifting double-dealer"; "the
       floating population"; "vagrant hippies of the sixties" [syn:
       aimless, drifting, floating, vagabond, vagrant]
    n 1: anything that resembles a vagabond in having no fixed
         place; "pirate ships were vagabonds of the sea"
    2: a wanderer who has no established residence or visible means
       of support [syn: vagrant, drifter, floater, vagabond]
    v 1: move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in
         search of food or employment; "The gypsies roamed the
         woods"; "roving vagabonds"; "the wandering Jew"; "The
         cattle roam across the prairie"; "the laborers drift from
         one town to the next"; "They rolled from town to town"
         [syn: roll, wander, swan, stray, tramp, roam,
         cast, ramble, rove, range, drift, vagabond]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Vagabond \Vag"a*bond\, v. i.
   To play the vagabond; to wander like a vagabond; to stroll.
   [1913 Webster]

         On every part my vagabonding sight
         Did cast, and drown mine eyes in sweet delight.
                                                  --Drummond.
   [1913 Webster]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Vagabond \Vag"a*bond\, a. [F., fr. L. vagabundus, from vagari to
   stroll about, from vagus strolling. See Vague.]
   1. Moving from place to place without a settled habitation;
      wandering. "Vagabond exile." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Floating about without any certain direction; driven to
      and fro.
      [1913 Webster]

            To heaven their prayers
            Flew up, nor missed the way, by envious winds
            Blown vagabond or frustrate.          --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Being a vagabond; strolling and idle or vicious.
      [1913 Webster]

4. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Vagabond \Vag"a*bond\, n.
   One who wanders from place to place, having no fixed
   dwelling, or not abiding in it, and usually without the means
   of honest livelihood; a vagrant; a tramp; hence, a worthless
   person; a rascal.
   [1913 Webster]

         A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be. --Gen. iv. 12.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: In English and American law, vagabond is used in bad
         sense, denoting one who is without a home; a strolling,
         idle, worthless person. Vagabonds are described in old
         English statutes as "such as wake on the night and
         sleep on the day, and haunt customable taverns and
         alehouses, and routs about; and no man wot from whence
         they came, nor whither they go." In American law, the
         term vagrant is employed in the same sense. Cf Rogue,
         n., 1. --Burrill. --Bouvier.
         [1913 Webster]

5. Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

Vagabond
   from Lat. vagabundus, "a wanderer," "a fugitive;" not used
   opprobriously (Gen. 4:12, R.V., "wanderer;" Ps. 109:10; Acts
   19:13, R.V., "strolling").

6. Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

VAGABOND. One who wanders about idly, who has no certain dwelling. The 
ordinances of the French define a vagabond almost in the same terms. Dalloz, 
Dict. Vagabondage. See Vattel, liv. 1, Sec. 219, n.

Thesaurus Results for vagabond:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

Arab, Bowery bum, arab, bat around, beach bum, beachcomber, beggar, beggarly fellow, bird of passage, blighter, bo, budmash, bum, bummer, caitiff, canter, circumforaneous, count ties, derelict, devil, discursive, divagate, divagatory, dogie, drift, drifter, drifting, drunkard, errant, flit, flitting, floater, floating, footloose, footloose and fancy-free, fugitive, gad, gad about, gadding, gallivant, gamin, gamine, go about, go the rounds, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, guttersnipe, gypsy, gypsy-like, gypsyish, hit the road, hit the trail, hobo, homeless waif, human wreck, idler, itinerant, jaunt, knock about, knock around, landloper, landloping, lazzarone, loafer, losel, lowlife, mauvais sujet, mean wretch, meander, meandering, migrant, migrational, migratory, mooch, mucker, mudlark, no-good, nomad, nomadic, nomadize, pauvre diable, perambulatory, peregrinate, pererrate, peripatetic, piker, pilgarlic, poor creature, poor devil, prowl, ragamuffin, ragman, ragpicker, ramble, rambling, range, ranging, roadster, roam, roaming, rolling stone, rounder, rove, rover, roving, run about, runagate, sad case, sad sack, saunter, shack, shifting, ski bum, skid-row bum, stiff, straggle, straggling, stray, straying, street Arab, street arab, street urchin, stroll, strolling, sundowner, surf bum, swagger, swagman, swagsman, tatterdemalion, tennis bum, traipse, traipsing, tramp, tramper, transient, transitory, transmigratory, traveler, truant, turnpiker, urchin, vag, vagabondize, vagrant, vaurien, waif, waifs and strays, walk the tracks, wander, wanderer, wandering, wastrel, wayfare, wayfarer, wayfaring, weary, worthless fellow, wretch

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