Tramp - Definition and Overview

A tramp is an itinerant who travels from place to place, traditionally tramping, that is, walking. While they may do odd jobs from time to time, tramps aren't looking for regular work. This is in contrast to hobos who travel from place to place (often by stealing rides on freight trains) looking for work, or schnorrers, who travel from city to city begging. Both the terms tramp and hobo (and the distinction between them) were in common use between the 1880s and the 1940s, and were not limited to the Great Depression. Schnorrer is a Yiddish term. Like hobo and bum, tramp is somewhat archaic in American English usage, having been subsumed by the more euphemistic homeless person.

In New Zealand tramping is the commonly used name for a hike of at least one overnight stay in the outdoors. The travel book by Mark Twain A Tramp Abroad uses the word in this sense. It is not about about an indigent itinerant.

Tramp is also a slang term for a "loose" woman or prostitute.

See also

• Hiking