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Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants[a] usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western countries, vagrancy was historically a crime punishable with forced labor, military service, imprisonment, or confinement to dedicated labor houses.
Both vagrant and vagabond ultimately derive from the Latin word vagari, meaning "to wander". The term vagabond and its archaic equivalent vagabone come from Latin vagabundus ("strolling about"). In Middle English, vagabond originally denoted a person without a home or employment.[2]
- ^ "Vagrant – Definition of vagrant in English by Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford Dictionaries – English. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020.
- ^ Definition of vagabond from Oxford Dictionaries Online
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