vagrant

Vagrant is defined as a person who wanders.

(noun)

An example of a vagrant is a homeless person who travels from place to place.

The definition of vagrant is living on the streets or wandering.

(adjective)

An example of the use of vagrant as an adjective is in the phrase "a vagrant family," which means a family who constantly moves from place to place without ever having a home.

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See vagrant in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

  1. a person who wanders from place to place or lives a wandering life; rover
  2. one who wanders from place to place without a regular job, supporting oneself by begging, etc.; idle wanderer; vagabond
  3. Law a tramp, beggar, prostitute, or similar idle or disorderly persons whose way of living makes them liable to arrest and detention

Origin: ME vagraunt, prob. < Anglo-Fr wacrant, walcrant < OFr walcrer, to wander < Frank *walken (see walk): infl. prob. by L vagari, to wander

adjective

  1. wandering from place to place or living a wandering life; roaming; nomadic
  2. living the life of a vagabond or tramp
  3. of or characteristic of a vagrant
  4. characterized by straggling growth: said of plants
  5. following no fixed direction, course, or pattern; random, wayward, fleeting, erratic, etc.

Related Forms:

See vagrant in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. One who wanders from place to place without a permanent home or a means of livelihood.
  2. A wanderer; a rover.
  3. One who lives on the streets and constitutes a public nuisance.
adjective
  1. Wandering from place to place and lacking any means of support.
  2. Wayward; unrestrained: a vagrant impulse.
  3. Moving in a random fashion; not fixed in place: “Thanks to a vagrant current of the Gulf Stream, a stretch of the Kola coast is free of ice year round” (Jack Beatty).

Origin:

Origin: Middle English vagraunt

Origin: , probably alteration of Old French wacrant

Origin: , present participle of wacrer, to wander

Origin: , of Germanic origin

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Related Forms:

  • vaˈgrant·ly adverb

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