Vagrancy

Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds (archaically also: vagabones^[1]), rogues, tramps or drifters)^[2] usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, or petty theft. Historically, vagrancy in Western societies was associated^{[citation needed]} with petty crime, begging and lawlessness, and punishable by law with forced labor, military service, imprisonment, or confinement to dedicated labor houses.

Both vagrant and vagabond ultimately derive from the Latin word vagari, meaning "to wander". The term vagabond is derived from Latin vagabundus. In Middle English, vagabond originally denoted a person without a home or employment.^[3]

^ "vagabond". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^ "Vagrant – Definition of vagrant in English by Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford Dictionaries – English. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020.
^ Definition of vagabond from Oxford Dictionaries Online

[1] "vagabond". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)

[2] "Vagrant – Definition of vagrant in English by Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford Dictionaries – English. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020.

[3] Definition of vagabond from Oxford Dictionaries Online

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