Word.ws English Dictionary

tramp

[ˈtɹeə̯mp] ~ [ˈtɹɛə̯mp]UK/ˈtɹæmp/

tramp noun: the act of walking with heavy steps. Also the clipping of trampoline.

Noun

tramp (plural tramps)

  1. The act of walking with heavy steps.
    • My dear sirs, did you actually imagine that one could not follow every clumsy move you made, with Joolby's low comedy tramp and the other two stealing in like a couple of hired assassins in a penny gaff melodrama?1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
  2. (derogatory, sometimes) A homeless person; a vagabond.
    • [S]he had expected to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven, burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III...
  3. (derogatory) A disreputable, promiscuous woman; a slut.
    • I can't believe you'd let yourself be seen with that tramp.
    • Claudia is such a tramp; making out with all those men when she has a boyfriend.
    Synonyms:
    NB: All terms are usually pejorative unless stated otherwise., 304, alley cat, alleycat, amorette, amoret, amorosa, article, Athanasian wench, blowsabella
  4. Any ship which does not have a fixed schedule or published ports of call.
    • I was so happy on board that ship, I could not have believed it possible. We had the beastliest weather, and many discomforts; but the mere fact of its being a tramp-ship gave us many comforts; we could cut about with the men and officers, stay in the wheel-house, discuss all manner of things, and...1888, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson; Volume 2, chapter 9
    • Then I think I conceive of other worlds and vast structures that pass us by, within a few miles, without the slightest desire to communicate, quite as tramp vessels pass many islands without particularizing one from another.1919, Charles Fort, The Book of the Damned, chapter 10
  5. (Australia, New Zealand) A long walk, possibly of more than one day, in a scenic or wilderness area.
    • I got in with the American Fur Company and set out for another tramp to trade with the Indians on the North and South Platte Rivers.1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 40
    • The starting place for the tramp is reached over a gravel road that begins on Route 3 about a mile south of Gorham spur.1968, John W. Allen, It Happened in Southern Illinois, page 75
    Synonyms:
    bushwalk, hike, ramble, trek
  6. Of objects, stray, intrusive and unwanted.
    • Your last delivery of copper ore contained half a hundredweight of tramp metal.2015 September 29 (last accessed), Mining Magazine, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2016
  7. A metal plate worn by diggers under the hollow of the foot to save the shoe.
  8. Shaking or juddering of a vehicle's driving axle under hard acceleration or braking, caused by the suspension not fully restraining it, and leading to reduction in tire traction.

Verb

tramp (third-person singular simple present tramps, present participle tramping, simple past and past participle tramped)

  1. To walk with heavy footsteps.
  2. To walk for a long time (usually through difficult terrain).
    • We tramped through the woods for hours before we found the main path again.
  3. To hitchhike.
  4. (transitive) To tread upon forcibly and repeatedly; to trample.
  5. (transitive) To travel or wander through.
    • to tramp the country
  6. (Scotland, transitive) To cleanse, as clothes, by treading upon them in water.
    • Soak them [blankets, etc.], add to the water in which the linens were washed some soap, and also some of the preparation to produce a strong lather; rub or tramp them, then rinse and dry.1842, Catherine Esther Beecher, A Treatise on Domestic Economy
  7. (colloquial, intransitive) To scram; begone.
    • She hesitated, “be off—tramp, march,” he exclaimed, in a tone which the poor girl dared not disobey. She left the room, and Edward followed her to the door.1838 November, Francis Purcell [pseudonym; Sheridan Le Fanu], “Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess. […]”, in The Dublin University Magazine […], volume XII, number LXXI, Dublin...
    • Tramp, my lad. Bundle out of this, please, hand over hand, and double quick.1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Silver’s Embassy”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part IV (The Stockade), page 164
  8. (intransitive) To shake or judder under hard acceleration or braking, referring to the movement of a vehicle's driving axle caused by the suspension not fully restraining it, leading to reduction in tire traction.

Also used as

tramp is also the clipping of trampoline.

tramp meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

tramp in Hindi

ट्रैम्प, ट्रैंप, ट्रेम्प

tramp in Tamil

homeless person
நாடோடி nāṭōṭi

tramp in Marathi

ट्रॅम्प

tramp in Urdu

ٹریمپ
More languagesFewer languages
tramp in Bengali
ট্রেম্প
tramp in Telugu
ట్రాంప్
tramp in Malayalam
ട്രാംപ്
tramp in Kannada
ಟ್ರ್ಯಾಂಪ್, ಟ್ರೆಂಪ್, ಟ್ರ್ಯಾಂಪ್ ಮಾಡಲು
tramp in Punjabi
ਟਰਾਮਪ, ਟ੍ਰੈਂਪ, ਟਰੈਂਪ
tramp in Gujarati
ટ્રેમ્પ
tramp in Odia
ଟ୍ରାମପ୍
tramp in Nepali
ट्रेम्प, ट्र्याम्प गर्न, ट्र्याम्प गर्नाका लागि
tramp in Indonesian
gelandangan
tramp in Persian
راکاره râkâre
tramp in Vietnamese
đi dạo, lang thang

Examples of tramp in a sentence

  • Some of these are regular ocean liners; others are casual tramp ships.1924, George Sutherland, Texas Transport Terminal Company v. New Orleans: Dissent Brandeis:
  • “Get into uniform right away, we must have discipline here.” With that he stalked off as if he were First Mate on one of the Queens instead of just on a dirty, rusty old tramp ship.1960, Lobsang Rampa, The Rampa Story, chapter Six:
  • Speaking of knockout panoramas, if you′re fit then consider doing the taxing, winding, 8km tramp up Mt Roy (1578m; five to six hours return), start 6km from Wanaka on Mt Aspiring Rd.2005, Paul Smitz, Australia & New Zealand on a Shoestring, Lonely Planet, page 734:
  • The 1½-hour tramp passes through banksia, gum, and wattle forests, with spectacular views of peaks and valleys.2006, Marc Llewellyn, Lee Mylne, Frommer′s Australia from $60 a Day, page 186:

All 40 example sentences with tramp

Synonyms of tramp

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of tramp

Forms of tramp

Noun
pluraltramps
Verb
third-person singular presenttramps
present participletramping
past participletramped
pasttramped

Plural of tramp: tramps

Origin of tramp

From Middle English trampen (“to walk heavily”), from Middle Low German trampen (“to stamp”) (trampeln (“to walk with heavy steps”), see trample) or from Middle Dutch trampen (“to stamp”), from Proto-West Germanic *trampan (“to step”). Doublet of tremp. Cognate with Dutch trampen (“to stamp, kick, step”), dialectal German trampen (“to step, walk, tread”), whence commoner German trampeln (“to trample”). Probably related to trap.

Clipping of trampoline (ultimately related to the verb via German trampeln).

Words formed from tramp

Phrases with tramp

Words that rhyme with tramp

8 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about tramp

What does tramp mean?
Tramp means the act of walking with heavy steps.
What is tramp in Hindi?
Tramp in Hindi is ट्रैम्प, ट्रैंप, ट्रेम्प. See Tramp meaning in Hindi.
How do you use tramp in a sentence?
Some of these are regular ocean liners; others are casual tramp ships.
What part of speech is tramp?
Tramp can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce tramp?
Tramp is pronounced /ˈtɹæmp/ (UK).
What is the plural of tramp?
The plural of tramp is tramps.

Words near tramp in the dictionary

  1. tramontana
  2. tramontanas
  3. tramontane
  4. tramontanes
  5. Tramore
  6. tramp
  7. tramp ant
  8. tramp ants
  9. tramp art
  10. tramp chair
  11. tramp chairs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tramp (page history and authors); tramp (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tramp (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tramp (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tramp (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tramp (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tramp (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tramp (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tramp (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tramp (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tramp (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tramp (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-tramp.ogg, en-au-tramp.ogg.

Cite this entry: “tramp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tramp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.