hobo
/ˈhəʊ.bəʊ/US/ˈhoʊ.boʊ/
hobo noun: a wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatory) a penniless, unemployed bum.
Noun
- A wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatory) a penniless, unemployed bum.
- 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.2024, Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars, Harvill Secker, page 55
- Any migratory laborer, whether homeless or not.
- A kind of large handbag.
- Avoid bulky styles such as duffle sacks, buckets, doctors' satchels, and hobos.1989, Susan Ludwig, Janice Steinberg, Petite Style, page 46
Verb
hobo (third-person singular simple present hobos, present participle hoboing, simple past and past participle hoboed)
- To be a hobo, tramp, bum etc.
- Joe idly hoboed through half the country till he realized hoboing never gets you anywhere in life.
hobo meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
hobo in Hindi
- होबो
hobo in Tamil
- நாடோடிக் கூலி
hobo in Marathi
- होबो, हॉबो
hobo in Urdu
- ہوبو
More languagesFewer languages
- hobo in Bengali
- হোবোকে
- hobo in Telugu
- హోబో, హొబో, హోబొ
- hobo in Malayalam
- ഹോബോ, ഹൊബോ, ഹോബോയിലേക്ക്
- hobo in Kannada
- ತಿರುಗು ಕೆಲಸಗಾರ, ಅಲೆಕೂಲಿ, ಪೇರಿ ಕೂಲಿ, ಊರೂರು ಅಲೆಯುತ್ತ ಕೆಲಸಮಾಡುವವನು
- hobo in Punjabi
- ਹੋਬੋ
- hobo in Gujarati
- હોબો, હોબોને, હોબો સુધી
- hobo in Odia
- ହୋବୋ, ହୋବୋକୁ, ହୋବୋଙ୍କୁ
- hobo in Nepali
- होबो
- hobo in Tagalog
- bayabay
- hobo in Thai
- คนไร้บ้าน, คนจรจัด, คนเร่ร่อน, คนพเนจร
Examples of hobo in a sentence
- Groups sit around bonfires to burn old bankruptcy papers and share hobo stew.
- Hobos of the modern age who happened upon autoracks had struck gold.
- Bull's Eye pretends he's a hobo, pulling out his Hoover flags, empty pockets turned inside out.
Forms of hobo
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hobos |
| plural | hoboes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hobos |
| present participle | hoboing |
| past participle | hoboed |
| past | hoboed |
Origin of hobo
Unknown. Possibly a contraction of ho, boy or the dialectal English term hawbuck (“lout, clumsy fellow, country bumpkin”).
Words formed from hobo
Phrases with hobo
Words that rhyme with hobo
Questions about hobo
- What does hobo mean?
- Hobo means a wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatory) a penniless, unemployed bum.
- What is hobo in Hindi?
- Hobo in Hindi is होबो. See Hobo meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is hobo?
- Hobo can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce hobo?
- Hobo is pronounced /ˈhəʊ.bəʊ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of hobo?
- The plural of hobo is hobos.
Words near hobo in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hobo (page history and authors); hobo (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hobo (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hobo (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hobo (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hobo (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hobo (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hobo (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hobo (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hobo (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hobo (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hobo (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hobo (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hobo.wav.
Cite this entry: “hobo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hobo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.