Tramp Meaning
/ˈtɹæmp/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA homeless person; a vagabond.
nounThe act of walking with heavy steps.
Sentence Examples
Don't tramp in the living room with muddy feet.
The tramp gobbled down the Thanksgiving dinner served at the church.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The poor ____ searched for food in the trash cans of the city.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I heard the heavy ____ of boots on the wooden stairs as the workers arrived to start repairs.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English trampen (“to walk heavily”), from Middle Low German trampen (“to stamp”) (trampeln (“to walk with heavy steps”), see trample) or from Middle Dutch trampen (“to stamp”), from Proto-West Germanic *trampan (“to step”). Doublet of tremp. Cognate with Dutch trampen (“to stamp, kick, step”), dialectal German trampen (“to step, walk, tread”), whence commoner German trampeln (“to trample”). Probably related to trap.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"My dear sirs, did you actually imagine that one could not follow every clumsy move you made, with Joolby's low comedy tramp and the other two stealing in like a couple of hired assassins in a penny gaff melodrama?"
— 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
"[S]he had expected to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven, burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp."
— 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 2:
"I was so happy on board that ship, I could not have believed it possible. We had the beastliest weather, and many discomforts; but the mere fact of its being a tramp-ship gave us many comforts; we could cut about with the men and officers, stay in the wheel-house, discuss all manner of things, and really be a little at sea."
— 1888, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson; Volume 2, chapter 9:
"Then I think I conceive of other worlds and vast structures that pass us by, within a few miles, without the slightest desire to communicate, quite as tramp vessels pass many islands without particularizing one from another."
— 1919, Charles Fort, The Book of the Damned, chapter 10:
"Some of these are regular ocean liners; others are casual tramp ships."
— 1924, George Sutherland, Texas Transport Terminal Company v. New Orleans: Dissent Brandeis:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The poor ____ searched for food in the trash cans of the city.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I heard the heavy ____ of boots on the wooden stairs as the workers arrived to start repairs.