vagrant
n. countablen. a person who travels from place to place without a home or a job. This word is often used in old stories or legal rules to describe someone who does not have a permanent address.
n. a person who wanders from place to place without a permanent home or job. Often carries a legal or historical connotation of being a person who does not work or pay taxes.
The old man was known as a vagrant who traveled the countryside.
In many historical novels, the vagrant is portrayed as a mysterious traveler who brings trouble to the village.
The term vagrant was frequently used in 19th-century legislation to describe individuals who were deemed to be a burden on the local parish because they lacked a fixed place of residence.
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.
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.