hoboed
Wandered without home
Hoboed is the past tense of hobo, meaning to live or travel as a hobo—wandering from place to place, often by hopping freight trains, and taking odd jobs.
He hoboed across the country one summer during the Depression.
The word carries a romantic tinge of freedom and adventure alongside its associations with poverty and displacement.
Aimless, rootless traveler
- nomadHomeless wanderer by choice
- wandererRootless, roving person
- vagrantHomeless itinerant person
- itinerantMoving for work
transient · roaming · rambling · wayfarer · rover · tramping · footloose · rootless
Enclosed rail freight carrier
- freightGoods being transported
- trampWandering homeless person
- bindleWanderer's tied bundle
- railyardTrain staging facility
hopping · gondola · flatcar · caboose · switchyard · coupling · trestle · siding
Free from restriction
- unboundNot tied down
- carefreeFree from anxiety
- escapismHabitual mental retreat
- unconventionalDeparting from standard practice
free-spirited · bohemian · autonomy · unrestrained · solitude · independence · open road · self-reliance
Obtain through begging
- forageSeek food actively
- makeshiftTemporary, improvised substitute
- resourcefulSkilled at solving problems
- subsistenceMinimal means of living
roughing · scavenging · panhandling · begging · shelter · campfire · jungle · mulligan stew
drifter
Aimless, rootless traveler
itinerant · transient · roaming · rambling · wayfarer · rover · tramping · footloose · rootless · aimless
boxcar
Enclosed rail freight carrier
railyard · hopping · gondola · flatcar · caboose · switchyard · coupling · trestle · siding · junction
unfettered
Free from restriction
unconventional · free-spirited · bohemian · autonomy · unrestrained · solitude · independence · open road · self-reliance · untethered
scrounge
Obtain through begging
- forageSeek food actively
- makeshiftTemporary, improvised substitute
- resourcefulSkilled at solving problems
subsistence · roughing · scavenging · panhandling · begging · shelter · campfire · jungle · mulligan stew · handout
hoboedsettled down
Became calm or stationary
settled · stayed put · put down roots · nested · homesteaded
- hobo bagCrescent-shaped soft purse
- hobo stewTransient's improvised potage
- boxcar hobo
- hobo clownComedic vagrant character type
- hobo stoveCan converted for cooking
- hobo jungleHomeless encampment near railways