Vagrant definitions

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VA'GRANT, a. [L. vagor.]
1. Wandering from place to place without any settled habitation; as a vagrant beggar.
2. Wandering; unsettled; moving without any certain direction.
That beauteous Emma vagrant courses took.
VA'GRANT, n. An idle wanderer; a vagabond; one who strolls from place to place; a sturdy beggar; one who has no settled habitation, or who does not abide in it.
Vagrants and outlaws shall offend thy view.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: 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: a wanderer who has no established residence or visible means of support [syn: vagrant, drifter, floater, vagabond]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English vagraunt, from Anglo-French vageraunt, from present participle of vagrer to wander about, alteration (influenced by Latin vagari to wander) of wacrer to wander, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English wealcan to roll — more at walk Date: 15th century 1. a. one who has no established residence and wanders idly from place to place without lawful or visible means of support b. one (as a prostitute or drunkard) whose conduct constitutes statutory vagrancy 2. wanderer, rover II. adjective Date: 15th century 1. wandering about from place to place usually with no means of support 2. a. having a fleeting, wayward, or inconstant quality <a vagrant impulse> b. having no fixed course ; random <a vagrant breeze> • vagrantly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. 1 a person without a settled home or regular work. 2 a wanderer or vagabond. --adj. 1 wandering or roving (a vagrant musician). 2 being a vagrant. Derivatives: vagrancy n. vagrantly adv. Etymology: ME f. AF vag(a)raunt, perh. alt. f. AF wakerant etc. by assoc. with L vagari wander

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vagrant Va"grant, a. [Probably fr. OF. waucrant, wacrant, p. p. of waucrer, wacrer, walcrer, to wander (probably of Teutonic origin), but influenced by F. vagant, p. pr. of vaguer to stray, L. vagari. Cf. Vagary.] 1. Moving without certain direction; wandering; erratic; unsettled. That beauteous Emma vagrant courses took. --Prior. While leading this vagrant and miserable life, Johnson fell in live. --Macaulay. 2. Wandering from place to place without any settled habitation; as, a vagrant beggar.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vagrant Va"grant, n. One who strolls from place to place; one who has no settled habitation; an idle wanderer; a sturdy beggar; an incorrigible rogue; a vagabond. Vagrants and outlaws shall offend thy view. --Prior.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(vagrants) A vagrant is someone who moves a lot from place to place because they have no permanent home or job, and have to ask for or steal things in order to live. He lived on the street as a vagrant. = tramp N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Idle wanderer, sturdy beggar, vagabond. II. a. Strolling, wandering, roving, roaming, unsettled, nomadic, itinerant.

Moby Thesaurus

Arab, Bowery bum, aberrant, aberrative, adrift, afloat, aimless, alternating, amorphous, arbitrary, beach bum, beachcomber, beggar, beggarly fellow, blighter, bo, budmash, bum, bummer, caitiff, capricious, changeable, changeful, circuitous, circumforaneous, cranky, crotchety, departing, derelict, desultory, deviable, deviant, deviating, deviative, deviatory, devil, devious, digressive, discursive, divagatory, dizzy, dogie, drifter, drifting, drunkard, eccentric, errant, erratic, excursive, fanciful, fantasied, fantastic, fast and loose, fickle, fitful, flaky, flickering, flighty, flitting, floating, fluctuating, footloose, footloose and fancy-free, freakish, fugitive, gadding, gamin, gamine, giddy, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, guttersnipe, gypsy-like, gypsyish, harebrained, hobo, homeless waif, human wreck, humorsome, idler, impetuous, impulsive, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, indirect, infirm, irregular, irresolute, irresponsible, kinky, labyrinthine, landloper, landloping, lazzarone, loafer, losel, lowlife, maggoty, mauvais sujet, mazy, mean wretch, meandering, mercurial, migrational, migratory, moody, motiveless, mucker, mudlark, no-good, nomad, nomadic, notional, out-of-the-way, pauvre diable, perambulatory, peripatetic, petulant, piker, pilgarlic, planetary, poor creature, poor devil, quirky, ragamuffin, ragman, ragpicker, rambling, ranging, restless, roaming, rounder, roving, sad case, sad sack, sauntering, scatterbrained, serpentine, shapeless, shifting, shifty, shuffling, ski bum, skid-row bum, snaky, spasmodic, spineless, stiff, straggling, stray, straying, street Arab, street urchin, strolling, sundowner, surf bum, swagman, swagsman, swerving, tatterdemalion, temperamental, tennis bum, traipsing, tramp, transient, transitory, transmigratory, truant, turning, turnpiker, twisting, unaccountable, uncertain, uncontrolled, undependable, undirected, undisciplined, unfixed, unpredictable, unreasonable, unreliable, unrestrained, unsettled, unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, urchin, vacillating, vag, vagabond, vagarious, variable, vaurien, veering, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, volatile, waif, waifs and strays, wandering, wanton, wastrel, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayfaring, wayward, whimsical, winding, wishy-washy, worthless fellow, wretch, zigzag