vagrant
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vagrant¹
- /ˈveɪɡɹənt/ US, UK
Rhymes with -eɪɡɹənt
Where it comes from
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.
noun vagrants
- A person who wanders from place to place; a nomad, a wanderer.
- A person without settled employment or habitation who usually supports himself or herself by begging or some dishonest means; a tramp, a vagabond. Every morning before work, I see that poor vagrant around the neighbourhood begging for food.
- Any member of the species Vagrans egista of widely distributed Asian butteflies of the family Nymphalidae.
- An animal, typically a bird, found outside its species' usual range.
vagrant²
- /ˈveɪɡɹənt/ US, UK
Rhymes with -eɪɡɹənt
Where it comes from
From Middle English vagraunt, vagaraunt (“having no proper employment; having a tendency to go astray or wander; wayward”), from Anglo-Norman vagarant, wakerant, waucrant (“vagrant”) and Old French walcrant, waucrant (“roaming, wandering”); see further at etymology 1.
adjective more vagrant · most vagrant
- Wandering from place to place, particularly when without any settled employment or habitation. a vagrant beggar
- Of or pertaining to a vagabond or vagrant, or a person fond of wandering.
- Moving without a certain direction; roving, wandering; also, erratic, unsettled. Let Prudence yet obſtruct thy venturous way; / And take good heed, what men will think and ſay: / That beauteous Emma vagrant courſes took; / Her father's houſe and civil life forſook; / That, full of youthful blood, and fond of man; / She to the wood-land with an exile ran.
