VAGABOND • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Vagabond

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/vˈægəbɑnd/ Listen

noun

Vagabond 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. "A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be." 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.

verb

Vagabond v. i. To play the vagabond; to wander like a vagabond; to stroll. "On every part my vagabonding sight Did cast, and drown mine eyes in sweet delight."

adjective

Vagabond adj.

Moving from place to place without a settled habitation; wandering. "Vagabond exile."

Floating about without any certain direction; driven to and fro. "To heaven their prayers Flew up, nor missed the way, by envious winds Blown vagabond or frustrate."

Being a vagabond; strolling and idle or vicious.

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Etymology of 'Vagabond'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Vagabond" Quotes from Famous Books

... Cocoleu. It had been ascertained that he was utterly unable to do anything; and people ceased to interest themselves in his behalf. The consequence was, that he became a vagabond as of old. ...

— Within an Inch of His Life • Emile Gaboriau

... a robber or a vagabond," replied John, "he is one of the principal landowners in the Hatszegi district. How could I have said such things! He has a castle that is like a fortress. He is like a prince, a veritable prince in his own domains. ...

— The Poor Plutocrats • Maurus Jokai

... perceive! Oh, no doubt! Oh, my! Oh, goodness! Oh, tempora! Oh, Moses!" Why, the fellow is all O! That accounts for his reasoning in a circle, and explains why there is neither beginning nor end to him, nor to anything he says. We really do not believe the vagabond can write a word that hasn't an O in it. Wonder if this O-ing is a habit of his? By-the-by, he came away from Down-East in a great hurry. Wonder if he O's as much there as he does here? ...

— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 4 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... the husband, reciting a consideration of fifty dollars paid to him. The defendant's counsel had some difficulty in proving the execution of the release, and was compelled to introduce as a witness the constable who had been employed to find the vagabond husband and obtain his signature. His testimony disclosed the facts that he found the husband in the forest in one of our north-eastern counties, engaged in making shingles (presumably stealing timber from the public lands and ...

— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... beggary and wickedness. The monastic foundations, scattered in different countries, could never answer the ends of local and limited succor. Their gates might, indeed, be open to those who knocked at them for alms.... Nothing could have a stronger tendency to promote that vagabond mendicity which severe ...

— A Short History of Monks and Monasteries • Alfred Wesley Wishart

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