hobo
English
Etymology
UnknownCategory:English terms with unknown etymologies#HOBO. Possibly a contraction of ho, boy or the dialectal English term hawbuck (“lout, clumsy fellow, country bumpkin”).
Pronunciation
enPR: hō'bō
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhəʊ.bəʊ/Category:English 2-syllable words#HOBOCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HOBO
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈhoʊ.boʊ/Category:English 2-syllable words#HOBOCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HOBO
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈhəʉ.bəʉ/Category:English 2-syllable words#HOBOCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HOBO
- Rhymes: -əʊbəʊCategory:Rhymes:English/əʊbəʊ#HOBOCategory:Rhymes:English/əʊbəʊ/2 syllables#HOBO
Noun
hobo (plural hobos or hoboes)Category:English lemmas#HOBOCategory:English nouns#HOBOCategory:English countable nouns#HOBOCategory:English nouns with irregular plurals#HOBOCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HOBOCategory:Pages with entries#HOBOCategory:Pages with 4 entries#HOBO
- (Canada, USCategory:Canadian English#HOBOCategory:American English#HOBO) A wandering homeless person, especially (historicalCategory:English terms with historical senses#HOBO) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatoryCategory:English derogatory terms#HOBO) a penniless, unemployed bum.
- 2024, Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars, Harvill Secker, page 55:
- He’d heard the word hobo used for travelers, heard it was short for homeward bound, or homeless boy, or Hoboken having something to do with New Jersey.Category:English terms with quotations#HOBO
- (Canada, USCategory:Canadian English#HOBOCategory:American English#HOBO) 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.Category:English terms with quotations#HOBO
Usage notes
- 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
- See also Thesaurus:vagabond
Derived terms
Translations
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
hobo (third-person singular simple present hobos, present participle hoboing, simple past and past participle hoboed)Category:English lemmas#HOBOCategory:English verbs#HOBOCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HOBOCategory:Pages with entries#HOBOCategory:Pages with 4 entries#HOBO
- (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#HOBO, 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.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOBO
References
- ↑ Tales of the Iron Road: My Life As King of the Hobos.
Anagrams
Category:en:People#HOBO Category:English calculator words#HOBOAfrikaans
Etymology
From DutchCategory:Afrikaans terms inherited from Dutch#HOBOCategory:Afrikaans terms derived from Dutch#HOBO hobo, from FrenchCategory:Afrikaans terms derived from French#HOBO hautbois.
Pronunciation
Noun
hobo (plural hobo's, diminutive hobootjie)Category:Afrikaans lemmas#HOBOCategory:Afrikaans nouns#HOBOCategory:Afrikaans entries with incorrect language header#HOBOCategory:Pages with entries#HOBOCategory:Pages with 4 entries#HOBO
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from FrenchCategory:Dutch terms borrowed from French#HOBOCategory:Dutch terms derived from French#HOBO hautbois, from Middle FrenchCategory:Dutch terms derived from Middle French#HOBO [Term?]Category:Middle French term requests#HOBO.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɦoːˈboː/Category:Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation#HOBO
Category:Dutch terms with audio pronunciation#HOBOAudio: (file) - Hyphenation: ho‧bo
- Rhymes: -oːCategory:Rhymes:Dutch/oː#HOBO
Noun
hobo m (plural hobo's, diminutive hobootje n)Category:Dutch lemmas#HOBOCategory:Dutch nouns#HOBOCategory:Dutch nouns with plural in -s#HOBOCategory:Dutch nouns with red links in their headword lines#HOBOCategory:Dutch entries with incorrect language header#HOBOCategory:Dutch masculine nouns#HOBOCategory:Pages with entries#HOBOCategory:Pages with 4 entries#HOBO
- oboe (woodwind)
Derived terms
Japanese
Romanization
hoboCategory:Japanese non-lemma forms#HOBOCategory:Japanese romanizations#HOBOCategory:Japanese terms with non-redundant manual script codes#HOBOCategory:Japanese entries with incorrect language header#HOBOCategory:Pages with entries#HOBOCategory:Pages with 4 entries#HOBO