Middle English Dictionary Entry
vagabond adj.
Entry Info
| Forms | vagabond adj. Also vagabonde, vagabound(e, vagabunde, vacabounde. |
| Etymology | OF vagabond, vagabonde, vacabond adj. & L vagābundus adj. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Without a fixed abode, wandering; also, in exile or flight, fugitive; of a bee: inclined to wander from the hive or to swarm [quot. ?1440];
(b) given to idleness, dissolute, undisciplined;
(c) of eyes: lacking steadiness or fixity of gaze, shifty;
(d) of meaning: unfixed, ambiguous.
Associated quotations
a
- (?a1439) Lydg.FP (Bod 263)1.734 : Caym…[was] Afftir that tyme wilde and vacabounde, Til blynde Lamech gaff hym his dethis wounde.
- (?1440) Palladius (DukeH d.2)7.191 : Touche not this other nobul kingis, With alle his folk but he be vagabounde [L vagatur] Imprudently.
- a1475(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Vit C.13)23513 : This hous…was…founded…by sent Benet…to holde the cloystre round about by stablenesse, and not gon out into the world, vagabound, the edifices to confound.
- a1475 Adam & E.(3) (Hrl 4775)360/4 : Sith thou cast me out this daie…I shalle be vagabounde and ferre fugitiff in the erthe.
- a1500(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Stw 952(1))16842 : O thow blyssyd Lady…they that be vagabonde, dys[c]oure hem nat, ffor synfull ffolkys that be ffugytyff shalle ffleen vn-to the ffor socour and helpe.
b
- (1441) Proc.Privy C.5.152 : A speciall labour…will be to reforme and reduce to religious observaunce apostataas disordinate and vagabond persones.
- c1484(a1475) Caritate SSecr.(Tak 38)190/21 : Man…is hardy as a lyon…profytabyl as a bee, wantoun and vagabunde [L vagabundus] as a bor, ontame as a bole.
c
- c1450 Myght wisdom (Add 31042)61 : Blissede be thyn eghne…Refrenyde þay bene in breth of temperance, Noghte vacabownde in mobyll varyance.
- c1460 Lydg.Test.(Hrl 2255)p.256 : My poort, my pas, my foot alwey unstable, My look, myn eyen unswre and vagabounde, In al my werkys sodeynly chaungable, To al good thewys contrary I was founde.
- a1500(a1450) Ashmole SSecr.(Ashm 396)101/24 : Vagabond and whirlyng eyen aboute and derk, intemperance of lechernes it shewith.
d
- (c1443) Pecock Rule (Mrg M 519)251 : Many worþi clerkis…appropren wordis into special and streit significacioun for her vagabunde and a brode fleting significacioun.