vagrant

Definition

A person who wanders from place to place; a nomad, a wanderer.

Etymology

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.

Example Sentences

• "Every morning before work, I see that poor vagrant around the neighbourhood begging for food."
• "If it appear to the Juſtice by the confeſſion of the Vagrant, or by the Oath of one Witneſs, that he had no lawful Settlement ſince his Birth, and that he hath committed Acts of Vagrancy, or hath been a common Beggar, or Vagrant, for two Years laſt paſt, [...] then inſtead of puniſhing him, the Juſtice, or Juſtices, may bind him Apprentice for ſeven Years to the Perſon who apprehends him, or to any other Perſon who will receive him, and employ him in Great Britain, or in any of his Majeſty's Plantations."
• "'Tis the cruel gripe / That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts, / The hope of better things, the chance to win, / The wiſh to ſhine, the thirſt to be amuſed, / That at the found of Winter's hoary wing, / Unpeople all our counties, of ſuch herds, / Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, looſe / And wanton vagrants, as make London, vaſt / And boundleſs as it is, a crowded coop."

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