vagrant Definition
va·grant (vā′grənt)
noun
- a person who wanders from place to place or lives a wandering life; rover
- one who wanders from place to place without a regular job, supporting oneself by begging, etc.; idle wanderer; vagabond
- Law a tramp, beggar, prostitute, or similar idle or disorderly persons whose way of living makes them liable to arrest and detention
Etymology: ME vagraunt, prob. < Anglo-Fr wacrant, walcrant < OFr walcrer, to wander < Frank *walken (see walk): infl. prob. by L vagari, to wander
adjective
- wandering from place to place or living a wandering life; roaming; nomadic
- living the life of a vagabond or tramp
- of or characteristic of a vagrant
- characterized by straggling growth: said of plants
- following no fixed direction, course, or pattern; random, wayward, fleeting, erratic, etc.
vagrant Related Forms
va′·grantly adverb
vagrant Synonyms
vagrant
modif.
Having no home
roaming, itinerant, nomadic, homeless; see traveling 2, wandering 1.Having no occupation
begging, idling, unemployed, profligate, prodigal, loafing, beachcombing, mendicant, panhandling*, bumming*, mooching*. Having no fixed course
wayward, capricious, erratic; see aimless, wandering 1. See syn. study at itinerant.
vagrant Synonyms
vagrant Usage Examples
Possessives
- block: A vagrants ' block lay along the roadside at the west, with a piggery situated to the south.
- cell: There was an entrance block with vagrants ' cells toward the road at the east of the site.
- accommodation: Part of the entrance block was used for vagrants ' accommodation with a characteristic row of cell windows at the rear.
Converse of object
- include: Absolutely anything is possible here, including vagrants from the Caribbean and Bahamas, and whatever migrants are there will give wonderful views.
- become: They have become vagrants, deprived of all status.
- relieve: Mr Fane drew attention to the fact that the vagrants relieved during the last fortnight were 138, as against 79 last year.
- know: I also found two island rarities and managed to catch up with all the known vagrants present on the island.
Adjective modifier
- rare: The westerly Atlantic gales which assist rare North American vagrants to England now were also blowing in the Anglo-Saxon centuries.
- other: Like other vagrants, this species is most likely to occur in autumn or winter.
- eastern: The sun frequently shone during the two weeks and the birds were a mixture of western, southern and eastern vagrants.
- American: The westerly Atlantic gales which assist rare North American vagrants to England now were also blowing in the Anglo-Saxon centuries.
- female: Skipton former female vagrants ' ward, 2000. © Peter Higginbotham.
- few: Nicely illustrated with over 3000 drawings on 142 color plates which cover all the species described apart from a few vagrants.
Modifies a noun
- ward: In 1878, vagrant wards were added at each end of the front of the building's frontage.
- species: I was surprised to find that it is possible for a vagrant species to be included in the list.
- specie: In addition a number of vagrant species have ben recorded over the years.
- bird: This vagrant bird has been reported on six occasions from Sussex during the 1980's.
- visitor: There are more native species of bat in the UK -- 16 breeding and several vagrant visitors -- than any other group of mammals.
- wader: It is also a good site for vagrant waders ( including, in recent years, Terek Sandpiper and Pectoral Sandpiper ).
Browse dictionary entries near vagrant
- ‹ vagrancy
- ‹ vagotropic
- ‹ vagotonia
- ‹ vagotomy
- ‹ vagodepressor
- ‹ vago-
- ‹ vagino-
- ‹ vaginitis
- ‹ vaginismus
- ‹ vaginate
- vagrom ›
- vague ›
- vaguely ›
- vagueness ›
- vagus ›
- vahine ›
- vail ›
- Vail, Alfred ›
- vain ›
- vainglorious ›

