Tramps

Tramp is a label used for an itinerant person who travels from place to place without a fixed residence. Historically, tramps often moved on foot and depended on casual labor, begging, or charitable aid. The term has varied across regions and eras and is now frequently seen as archaic or pejorative in everyday speech, though it remains in use in historical writings and in some subcultures describing traveling or nomadic lifestyles.

Related terms include hobo, typically describing a traveler who moves by freight train in search of work, and bum or vagrant, broader labels for someone without a permanent home. In some periods, "tramping" also referred to the practice of riding freight trains to relocate, a dangerous and illegal activity in many countries. The figure of the tramp has appeared in literature and film, notably Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp, which introduced a sympathetic yet impoverished wanderer into popular culture.

Historically, tramps were a visible social group in industrializing societies, often linked to economic upheaval, urbanization, and migration. In contemporary usage, terms like homeless person or transient are preferred in policy and media. Nevertheless, the concept of itinerant living persists in discussions of labor mobility, social welfare, and the welfare systems that address displacement. Legal considerations include prohibitions on trespassing and safety risks associated with travel by rail or in public spaces.