Word.ws English Dictionary

more life in a tramp's vest

more life in a tramp's vest noun: used in comparisons to indicate that someone or something is devoid of life or animation.

Noun

more life in a tramp's vest (uncountable)

  1. (UK, slang) Used in comparisons to indicate that someone or something is devoid of life or animation.
    • We had been used to the patter and banter of the Gorbals and, after a particularly dull conversation with one of our new neighbours, my mother told me that she'd 'seen mair life in a tramp's vest'.2011, Colin MacFarlane, No Mean Glasgow: Revelations of a Gorbals Guy
    • I'd seen more life in a tramp's vest than I had in this lad, and he just sat on the bike totally unconcerned as I approached him on foot.2012, Martyn Johnson, What's Tha Up To Nah?

Origin of more life in a tramp's vest

A tramp's vest might be expected to be infested with living things such as fleas.

Questions about more life in a tramp's vest

What does more life in a tramp's vest mean?
More life in a tramp's vest means used in comparisons to indicate that someone or something is devoid of life or animation.
What part of speech is more life in a tramp's vest?
More life in a tramp's vest is a noun.

Words near more life in a tramp's vest in the dictionary

  1. more heat than light
  2. more honored in the breach
  3. more important fish to fry
  4. more is more
  5. more kicks than ha'pence
  6. more life in a tramp's vest
  7. more like
  8. more like it
  9. more money than brains
  10. more money than sense
  11. more often than naught

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: more life in a tramp's vest (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.

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