I. ˈtramp, -aa(ə)-, -ai-, in senses vi 1 & vt 1 chiefly dial ˈträmp or -rȯmp verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English trampen; akin to Middle Low German trampen to stamp, tread, Middle Dutch tramperen to stamp, Norwegian dialect trumpa to push, shove, Gothic ana trimpan to crowd, Middle Dutch trappen to stamp — more at trap
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to walk or tread especially with a heavy step
a steady stream of visitors tramps every day through the magnificent exhibition — Mollie Panter-Downes
man who was tramping across the square in climbing boots — Willa Cather
heard them tramp upstairs — Arnold Bennett
tramp on someone's toes
b. : to press one's foot
tramped down on the gas pedal — Oakley Hall
2.
a. : to travel about on foot : hike
spent his holidays tramping all over our native land — Joseph Conrad
finds relaxation in … tramping in the woods — Current Biography
tramped and climbed among the heights — H.N.Fowler
b. : to journey as a tramp
3.
a. : to travel as a tramp ship
three tiny steamers tramping between Suez and Mukalla — Ladislas Farago
b. : to travel on a tramp ship
transitive verb
1. : to tread on forcibly and usually repeatedly : trample so as to bruise or press down
tramp grapes for wine
dig out the ground three feet deep, put in a foot of straw, leaves, or coarse litter, wet it thoroughly, and tramp it down one half — Emily Holt
tramping the top of your silage 10 to 15 minutes a day for a week after filling will reduce top spoilage — Deerfield (Wisc.) Independent
2.
a. : to travel or wander through on foot : hike or trudge through or along
rode the subways and tramped the streets — E.A.Weeks
a naturalist tramping the forests
b. : to make by trudging or hiking
left home to tramp his way over the country — R.L.Taylor
II. ˈtramp, -aa(ə)-, -ai-, in senses 3-5 chiefly dial ˈträmp or -rȯmp noun
( -s )
1.
a. : a foot traveler : tramper
youthful tramps in search of work — Siegfried Kracauer
b. : a begging or thieving vagrant ; especially : a lazy good-for-nothing beggar or sponger who travels about but will not work
the tramp reappeared time and again as the hero of screen adventures — Lewis Jacobs
c. : a woman of loose morals ; specifically : prostitute
the rigid stateside demarcations between the nice girl and the tramp — Christian Science Monitor
a girl who can't quite make up her mind whether she wants to be a wife or a kept woman or just a tramp off to try her luck in New York — Wolcott Gibbs
2. : a journey on foot : a walking trip : hike
forth for a long tramp — C.G.Bowers
go for tramps on Saturday afternoons — Elizabeth Bowen
3. : the act of tramping
the dry ground was packed from the tramp of thousands of cattle and horses — J.F.Dobie
also : a mark produced by this act
4. : the succession of sounds made by the beating of feet of men or animals on a road, pavement, or floor
the rhythmic tramp of marching armies — C.T.Lanham
the tramps of so many horses — Walt Whitman
5.
a. : a plate of iron worn to protect the sole of the foot or the shoe when digging with a spade ; also : the part of the spade against which the foot is forced in digging
b. : a spiked piece of iron worn on the shoe in curling to prevent slipping
6. or tramp ship or tramp steamer : a ship not making regular trips between the same ports but taking a cargo when and where it offers and to any port
7. : an unwanted up-and-down movement of an automobile on its front wheels
tended to set up violent shimmy and tramp on the front end at high speeds — Roger Huntington
8. : trampoline
Synonyms: see vagabond
III. ˈtramp, -aa(ə)-, -ai- adjective
Etymology: tramp (II)
1. : having no fixed abode, connection, or destination
a tramp dog
a tramp printer
a tramp and vagrant world, adrift in space — William James
2. : unwanted , contaminating — used especially of metallic particles
whenever tramp iron threatens to contaminate a process or product, damage machinery, or give rise to sparking, magnets are the sentries that keep it out — Steelways