hobo

Unknown. Possibly a contraction of ho, boy or the dialectal English term hawbuck (“lout, clumsy fellow, country bumpkin”).

enPR: hō'bō

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhəʊ.bəʊ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhoʊ.boʊ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈhəʉ.bəʉ/
• Rhymes: -əʊbəʊ

hobo (plural hobos or hoboes)

1. (Canada, US) A wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatory) a penniless, unemployed bum.
   • 2024, Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars, Harvill Secker, page 55:

     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.

2. (Canada, US) Any migratory laborer, whether homeless or not.
3. A kind of large handbag.
   • 1989, Susan Ludwig, Janice Steinberg, Petite Style, page 46:

     Avoid bulky styles such as duffle sacks, buckets, doctors' satchels, and hobos.

• Often used attributively, as if an adjective. For example, "hobo stew", "he was leading a hobo life."
• Although informal usage considers hobo synonymous with bum, self-proclaimed hobos sometimes distinguish themselves as migrant workers rather than unemployed bums.^[1]

• See also Thesaurus:vagabond

hobo (third-person singular simple present hobos, present participle hoboing, simple past and past participle hoboed)

1. (intransitive, perhaps pejorative) To be a hobo, tramp, bum etc.

   Joe idly hoboed through half the country till he realized hoboing never gets you anywhere in life.

• Boho, boho

From Dutch hobo, from French hautbois.

• IPA^(key): /ɦʊəˈbʊə/

• Audio:

  (file)

hobo (plural hobo's, diminutive hobootjie)

1. oboe

Borrowed from French hautbois, from Middle French [Term?].

• IPA^(key): /ɦoːˈboː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ho‧bo
• Rhymes: -oː

hobo m (plural hobo's, diminutive hobootje n)

1. oboe (woodwind)

• hoboïst

hobo

1. Rōmaji transcription of ほぼ