Hypertext Webster Gateway: "vagabond"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
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").
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Vagabond \Vag"a*bond\, 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. --Drummond.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
2. 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.
--Milton.
3. Being a vagabond; strolling and idle or vicious.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be. --Gen. iv. 12.
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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
vagabond
adj 1: wandering aimlessly without ties to a place or community;
"led a vagabond life"; "a rootless wanderer" [syn: {rootless}]
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}, {vagrant}]
n 1: anything that resembles a vagabond in having no fixed place;
"pirate ships were vagabonds of the sea"
2: a person who has no fixed home
v : 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" [syn: {wander}, {swan}, {stray}, {tramp},
{roam}, {cast}, {ramble}, {rove}, {range}, {drift}]
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