bindlestiff
UK/ˈbɪnd(ə)lstɪf/
bindlestiff noun: a tramp (hobo) who carries a bedroll or a bundle of possessions.
Noun
bindlestiff (plural bindlestiffs)
- A tramp (hobo) who carries a bedroll or a bundle of possessions.
- The hobo was a migrant worker, generally honest. The tramp would make a living stealing but there would be mutual respect between them. The bindlestiff on the otherhand was the lowest of the low for he would steal from the bindles of his fellow wanderers.1950, James Blish, Cities in Flight
- And before he knew it he was a bindlestiff himself.1952, John Steinbeck, East of Eden
Examples of bindlestiff in a sentence
- She had been born in Tucson, mother full-blooded Cherokee, father a bindlestiff on his way through.1967, Harlan Ellison, Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes:
- AP Finance was tucked somewhere between South Central and the vestigial river, hometown of Indians and bindlestiffs and miscellaneous drinkers of Midnight Special […]2009, Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice, Vintage, published 2010, page 315:
Forms of bindlestiff
| plural | bindlestiffs |
|---|
Origin of bindlestiff
From bindle + stiff.
Questions about bindlestiff
- What does bindlestiff mean?
- Bindlestiff means a tramp (hobo) who carries a bedroll or a bundle of possessions.
- How do you use bindlestiff in a sentence?
- She had been born in Tucson, mother full-blooded Cherokee, father a bindlestiff on his way through.
- What part of speech is bindlestiff?
- Bindlestiff is a noun.
- How do you pronounce bindlestiff?
- Bindlestiff is pronounced /ˈbɪnd(ə)lstɪf/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bindlestiff?
- The plural of bindlestiff is bindlestiffs.
Words near bindlestiff in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bindlestiff (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “bindlestiff.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bindlestiff. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.