derilict

Noun

derelict (countable and uncountable, plural derelicts)

1. (uncountable) Property abandoned by its former guardian or owner; (countable) an item of such property.
   • But often it must have happened in a course of centuries, that plague, small-pox, cholera, the sweating-sickness, or other scourges of universal Europe and Asia, would absolutely depopulate a region no larger than an island; […] In such cases, mere strangers would oftentimes enter upon the lands as...1860, Thomas De Quincey, “Modern Greece”, in Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected; and Other Papers (De Quincey’s Works; XIV), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 320
   1. (specifically, uncountable) Property abandoned at sea with no hope of recovery and no expectation of being returned to its owner; (countable) an item of such property, especially a ship.
      • Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; / It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May." / And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum: / Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."1907, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, in Songs of a Sourdough, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, stanza 10, page 38
2. (countable, dated) An abandoned or forsaken person; an outcast, a waif.
   • And, think you, will the unkind ones hesitate / To try conclusions with my helplessness,— / To pounce on, misuse me, your derelict, / Helped by advantage that bereavement lends / Folks, who, while yet you lived, played tricks like these?1873 January 23, Robert Browning, “Part IV”, in Red Cotton Night-Cap Country: Or Turf and Towers, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 257–258
3. (broadly, countable, derogatory) A homeless or jobless person; a vagrant; also, a person who is (perceived as) negligent in their hygiene and personal affairs.
   • A very gratifying development of the work in this office has been the gradual improvement in the class and type of applicants. […] This improvement is due, in part to the arrangement with the Federal Employment office whereby the latter handles the common labor, in which group there is always a...1918, V. A. Zimmer, “Part VII: Report of Bureau of Employment [Report of the Superintendent of the Buffalo Office]”, in Annual Report of the Industrial Commission for the Twelve Months Ended June 30...

   Synonyms:

   bum, stiff, casual, clochard, dero, down-and-out, down-and-outer, drifter, epithite, floater

4. (US, countable) A person who is negligent in performing a duty.

   Synonyms:

   shirker

See all 12 meanings of derelict