Vagabond
Vagrancy is the condition of a person who wanders from place to place homeless without regular employment or income, referred to as a vagrant, vagabond, rogue, tramp or drifter. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, temporary work, petty theft, garbage scraping or, where available, welfare.
Historically, vagrancy in Western societies was associated with petty crime, begging and lawlessness, and punishable by law by imprisonment, forced labor, forced military service, or confinement to dedicated labor houses. The word vagrant is often conflated with the term homeless person, which does not necessarily include the wandering component. In modern societies, anti-homelessness legislation aims to both help and re-house homeless people on one side, and criminalize homelessness and begging on the other.
Both vagrant and vagabond ultimately derive from the Latin word vagari, meaning “wander”. The term vagabond is derived from Latin vagabundus. In Middle English, vagabond originally denoted a criminal.
Vagabond (noun)
A person on a trip of indeterminate destination and/or length of time.
Vagabond (noun)
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 hobo.
Vagabond (verb)
To roam, as a vagabond
Vagabond (adjective)
Floating about without any certain direction; driven to and fro.
Wanderer (noun)
One who wanders, who travels aimlessly.
Wanderer (noun)
Any of various far-migrating nymphalid butterflies of the genus Danaus.
Wanderer (noun)
The wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans.
Vagabond Illustrations
