vagrant
nounEtymology
From Late Middle English vagraunt (“person without proper employment; person without a fixed abode, tramp, vagabond”) [and other forms], probably from Anglo-Norman vagarant, wakerant, waucrant (“vagrant”) [and other forms] and Old French walcrant, waucrant (“roaming, wandering”) [and other forms], perhaps influenced by Latin vagārī, the present active infinitive of vagor (“to ramble, stroll about; to roam, rove, wander”). Old French walcrant is the present participle of vagrer, wacrer, walcrer (“to wander, wander about as a vagabond”) [and other forms], from Frankish *walkrōn (“to wander about”), the frequentative form of *walkōn (“to walk; to wander; to stomp, trample; to full (make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing)”), from Proto-Germanic *walkōną (“to roll about, wallow; to full”), *walkaną (“to turn, wind; to toss; to roll, roll about; to wend; to walk; to wander; to trample; to full”), from Proto-Indo-European *walg-, *walk-, *welgʰ-, *welk-, *wolg- (“to turn, twist; to move”), ultimately from *welH- (“to turn; to wind”). The English word is cognate with Latin valgus (“bandy-legged, bow-legged”), Middle Dutch walken (“to knead; to full”), Old English wealcan (“to roll”), ġewealcan (“to go; to walk about”), Old High German walchan, walkan (“to move up and down; to press together; to full; to walk; to wander”), Old Norse valka (“to wander”). See further at walk.
Definitions
A person who wanders from place to place
A person who wanders from place to place; a nomad, a wanderer.
A person without settled employment or habitation who usually supports himself or herself…
A person without settled employment or habitation who usually supports himself or herself by begging or some dishonest means; a tramp, a vagabond.
- Every morning before work, I see that poor vagrant around the neighbourhood begging for food.
Any of species Vagrans egista of widely distributed Asian butteflies of the family…
Any of species Vagrans egista of widely distributed Asian butteflies of the family Nymphalidae.
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An animal, typically a bird, found outside its species' usual range.
Wandering from place to place, particularly when without any settled employment or…
Wandering from place to place, particularly when without any settled employment or habitation.
- a vagrant beggar
Of or pertaining to a vagabond or vagrant, or a person fond of wandering.
Moving without a certain direction
Moving without a certain direction; roving, wandering; also, erratic, unsettled.
- While leading this vagrant and miserable life, Johnson fell in love.
- I'll ply the fire with kindling / And pull the blankets to my chin / I'll lock the vagrant winter out / And I'll bolt my wandering in
The neighborhood
Derived
vagrance, vagrancy, vagrantism, vagrantize, vagrantly, vagrantness, vagrom
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for vagrant. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA