hobo
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
See also: hóbo
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unknown. Possibly a contraction of ho, boy or the dialectal English term hawbuck (“lout, clumsy fellow, country bumpkin”).
Pronunciation[edit]
enPR: hō'bō
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhəʊ.bəʊ/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈhoʊ.boʊ/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈhəʉ.bəʉ/
- Rhymes: -əʊbəʊ
Noun[edit]
- (Canada, US) A wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatory) a penniless, unemployed bum.
- (Canada, US) Any migratory laborer, whether homeless or not.
- A kind of large handbag.
- 1989, Susan Ludwig, Janice Steinberg, Petite Style, page 46:
- Avoid bulky styles such as duffle sacks, buckets, doctors' satchels, and hobos.
Usage notes[edit]
- Often used attributively, as if an adjective. For example, "hobo stew", "he was leading a hobo life."
- Although informal usage considers hobo synonymous with bum, self-proclaimed hobos sometimes distinguish themselves as migrant workers rather than unemployed bums.[1]
Synonyms[edit]
- See also Thesaurus:vagabond
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
homeless person
|
tramp, vagabond; bum
|
migratory worker
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Verb[edit]
hobo (third-person singular simple present hobos, present participle hoboing, simple past and past participle hoboed)
- (intransitive, perhaps pejorative) To be a hobo, tramp, bum etc.
- Joe idly hoboed through half the country till he realized hoboing never gets you anywhere in life.
References[edit]
- ^ Tales of the Iron Road: My Life As King of the Hobos.
Anagrams[edit]
Afrikaans[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Dutch hobo, from French hautbois.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
hobo (plural hobo's, diminutive hobootjie)
Dutch[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from French hautbois, from Middle French [Term?].
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
hobo m (plural hobo's, diminutive hobootje n)
- oboe (woodwind)
Derived terms[edit]
Japanese[edit]
Romanization[edit]
hobo
Categories:
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/əʊbəʊ
- Rhymes:English/əʊbəʊ/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Canadian English
- American English
- English terms with historical senses
- English derogatory terms
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:People
- Afrikaans terms inherited from Dutch
- Afrikaans terms derived from Dutch
- Afrikaans terms derived from French
- Afrikaans terms with IPA pronunciation
- Afrikaans terms with audio links
- Afrikaans lemmas
- Afrikaans nouns
- Dutch terms borrowed from French
- Dutch terms derived from French
- Dutch terms derived from Middle French
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/oː
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch masculine nouns
- Japanese non-lemma forms
- Japanese romanizations