hobo
n. countablen. a person who travels from place to place to find work, often sleeping outside or on trains. It is an older word for a homeless worker, especially in North America.
n. a migratory worker or homeless individual who travels, traditionally by rail, in search of seasonal employment. Often carries a historical or nostalgic connotation related to early 20th-century American labor history.
The old stories tell of a hobo riding the rails across the country.
During the Great Depression, many men lived as a hobo, jumping onto freight trains to find work in distant states.
The folk songs of the era often romanticized the life of the hobo as one of ultimate freedom, despite the harsh realities of poverty and constant movement.
Unknown. Possibly a contraction of ho, boy or the dialectal English term hawbuck (“lout, clumsy fellow, country bumpkin”).
Primarily North American; often carries a more specific historical meaning than 'homeless person'.