different between outlaw vs vagrant

English

Etymology

From Middle English outlawe, outlagh, utla?e, from Old English ?tlaga (“outlaw”), borrowed from Old Norse útlagi (“outlaw, fugitive”), equivalent to out- +? law. Cognate with Icelandic útlagi (“outlaw”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?tl??/

Noun

outlaw (plural outlaws)

1. A fugitive from the law.
2. (historical) A criminal who is excluded from normal legal rights; one who can be killed at will without legal penalty.
3. A person who operates outside established norms.

4. A wild horse.
5. (humorous) An in-law: a relative by marriage.
6. (humorous) One who would be an in-law except that the marriage-like relationship is unofficial.
7. (slang) A prostitute who works alone, without a pimp.
   • 1977, Joseph Julian, Social Problems (page 463)

     Without a pimp, she was an "outlaw," likely to be harassed, or threatened with assault or robbery on the street.

   • 2010, Lawrence Block, Eight Million Ways To Die

     She was an outlaw. Chance is doing some double-checking to see if she had a pimp nobody knew about, but it doesn't look likely.

Synonyms

• (fugitive): absconder, fugitive
• (criminal): bandit, wolfshead
• (person who operates outside established norms): anti-hero, deviant

Hypernyms

• (criminal): See Thesaurus:criminal
• (prostitute): See Thesaurus:prostitute

Translations

Verb

outlaw (third-person singular simple present outlaws, present participle outlawing, simple past and past participle outlawed)

1. To declare illegal.
2. To place a ban upon.
3. To remove from legal jurisdiction or enforcement.

4. To deprive of legal force.
   • 1662, Thomas Fuller, History of the Worthies of England

     our English common law was outlawed in those parts.

See also

• criminalize
• felonize
• misdemeanorize

Translations

Further reading

• outlaw in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• outlaw in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• outlaw at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?ve????nt/
• Hyphenation: va?grant

Etymology 1

From Late Middle English vagraunt (“person without proper employment; person without a fixed abode, tramp, vagabond”) [and other forms], probably from Anglo-Norman vagarant, wakerant, waucrant (“vagrant”) [and other forms] and Old French walcrant, waucrant (“roaming, wandering”) [and other forms], perhaps influenced by Latin vag?r?, the present active infinitive of vagor (“to ramble, stroll about; to roam, rove, wander”). Old French walcrant is the present participle of vagrer, wacrer, walcrer (“to wander, wander about as a vagabond”) [and other forms], from Frankish *walkr?n (“to wander about”), the frequentative form of *walk?n (“to walk; to wander; to stomp, trample; to full (make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing)”), from Proto-Germanic *walk?n? (“to roll about, wallow; to full”), *walkan? (“to turn, wind; to toss; to roll, roll about; to wend; to walk; to wander; to trample; to full”), from Proto-Indo-European *walg-, *walk-, *welg?-, *welk-, *wolg- (“to turn, twist; to move”), ultimately from *welH- (“to turn; to wind”).

The English word is cognate with Latin valgus (“bandy-legged, bow-legged”), Middle Dutch walken (“to knead; to full”), Old English wealcan (“to roll”), ?ewealcan (“to go; to walk about”), Old High German walchan, walkan (“to move up and down; to press together; to full; to walk; to wander”), Old Norse valka (“to wander”). See further at walk.

Noun

vagrant (plural vagrants)

1. (dated) A person who wanders from place to place; a nomad, a wanderer.

   Synonyms: itinerant, rover; see also Thesaurus:wanderer

2. (specifically) A person without settled employment or habitation who supports himself or herself by begging or some dishonest means; a tramp, a vagabond.

   Synonyms: drifter, hobo; see also Thesaurus:vagabond
3. Vagrans egista, a widely distributed Asian butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.
4. (biology, especially ornithology) An animal, typically a bird, found outside its species' usual range.

Derived terms

Related terms

• vagary
• vagation

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English vagraunt, vagaraunt (“having no proper employment; having a tendency to go astray or wander; wayward”), from Anglo-Norman vagarant, wakerant, waucrant (“vagrant”) and Old French walcrant, waucrant (“roaming, wandering”); see further at etymology 1.

Adjective

vagrant (comparative more vagrant, superlative most vagrant)

1. Wandering from place to place, particularly when without any settled employment or habitation.

   Synonyms: itinerant, nomadic, peripatetic, vagabond, (obsolete) vagrom, vague
2. Of or pertaining to a vagabond or vagrant, or a person fond of wandering.
3. (figuratively) Moving without a certain direction; roving, wandering; also, erratic, unsettled.

   Synonyms: inconstant, straggling, straying, vagabond, (obsolete) vagrom, vague, wayward

Translations

Notes

References

Further reading

• vagrancy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia