bindle stiff
noun
: hobo
especially : one who carries his clothes or bedding in a bundle
Did you know?
In the argot of tramps and hoboes, a roll of clothes and bedding was called a bindle, a word that probably originated as an alteration of the more familiar bundle. Stiff itself can mean "hobo" or "migrant worker," meanings it took on in the late 19th century. About the same time, any tramp or hobo who habitually carried such a pack was known as a bindle stiff. In Australia, a pack-carrying hobo might be called a swagman.
Synonyms
- bum
- bummer
- hobo
- sundowner [Australian]
- swaggie [chiefly Australian]
- swagman [chiefly Australian]
- tramp
- vagabond
- vagrant
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
upon graduation from college he wandered around the country as a bindle stiff, naively believing that he was at one with the downtrodden
Word History
First Known Use
1897, in the meaning defined above
bindle stiff
noun
as in beggar
a homeless wanderer who may beg or steal for a living upon graduation from college he wandered around the country as a bindle stiff, naively believing that he was at one with the downtrodden Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- beggar
- hobo
- tramp
- bum
- transient
- swaggie
- sundowner
- stiff
- derelict
- vagrant
- vagabond
- dodger
- swagman
- shirker
- drifter
- roamer
- bummer
- panhandler
- malingerer
- mendicant
- slacker
- waif
- urchin
- ragamuffin
- gamine
- have little to recommend it
- have little/nothing to recommend it
- have mercy
- have mercy/pity
- have more in common with
- have more than one string to one's bow
- have much success
- have much to commend it
- have much to recommend her
- have much to recommend him
- have much to recommend it
- have news for
- have news for someone
- have no faith
- have no idea
- have no intention of
- have no interest in
- have no one to blame but oneself
- have no part in
- have no recollection
- have no truck with
- have no use for
- have no wish
- have none of
- have nothing against