tramp n.
1. (orig. US) a general term of abuse, esp. of someone incompetent, second-rate.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘The Bush League Demon’ in Big League (2004) 41: An old tramp who’s been chased out of every Class A league in the country. | |
| ‘Three Without, Doubled’ in Gullible’s Travels 216: They’re all nice people, people with real class to them; not no tramps like most o’ the ones we been runnin’ round with. | |
| ‘The Big Knockover’ Story Omnibus (1966) 311: I pulled the big tramp out after he stopped the slug. | |
| Web and the Rock 257: Some charged that the fight had been ‘fixed’ [...] others, that he was ‘nothing but a tramp.’. | |
| Amboy Dukes 64: Don’t think you can get away from me, you tramp. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | (con. 1936) Chicken Soup with Barley I i: Do your fly-buttons up, Monty, you tramp you. | |
| ‘Tramp’ 🎵 Tramp! What you call me? Tramp! You don’t wear continental clothes, or stetson hats. | |
| Monster (1994) 109: You ain’t dead yet, tramp? |
2. (orig. US, also trampie) a promiscuous woman; occas. used of a man [her ‘wandering’ from man to man].
| God’s Man 132: Lily’d always say Blond Aileen was a tramp, and Aileen said Hetty was a tramp. | |
| Broadway Melody 32: Next time I’ll give you a facial instead of a hair treatment, you dizzy tramp. | |
| Tropic of Capricorn (1964) 232: The mother of the girl I’m teaching is a slut, a tramp and a trollop if ever there was one. | |
| Case of the Crooked Candle (1958) 56: Are you trying to tell me in a nice way that she’s a tramp? | |
| Man with the Golden Arm 63: A hillybilly, a married woman, an ageing whore, a divorcee or just some poor tired trampie. | |
| (con. 1920) Pedlocks (1971) 273: [of a man] ‘Shut up, ya tramp,’ shouted Gertie. [to a man]. | |
| Go, Man, Go! 138: Not only with you. Now with another guy! She’s nothin’ but a lousy tramp, huh? | |
| Howard Street 64: I ain’t thinkin’ about that tramp. Don’t no broad hook me. | |
| Dopefiend (1991) 77: An old friend of mine has started to turn herself into a tramp. | |
| Too Much Too Soon (1986) 559: Keep Gid away from the little tramp. | |
| Homeboy 301: I cant [...] imagine why he’d want to tie the knot with that tramp. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Deathdeal [ebook] The typical mark didn’t like to think he was picking up a tramp. | |
| Indep. on Sun. Culture 22 Aug. 3: Cora’s errant daughter, the tomboyish town tramp. | |
 | ‘Chickenhawk’ at www.cultdeadcow.com 🌐 Suck me you little bitch you little fucking tramp fucking slut cunt whore goddammit suck me! | |
| ‘Death of a one-Percenter’ in ThugLit Mar. [ebook] ‘Irma Mae stood up, transformed from a flirty Texas tramp into a raging Greek fury’. | |
| Widespread Panic 17: She knew troves of tramps in trouble. |
3. (US gay) a male prostitute.
| (con. 1944) Gallery (1948) 140: [to a homosexual] Why do you come here at all, you sordid little tramp in your dirty old finery? | |
| City of Night 190: Everybody’s had him. Hes one of the Hollywood Boulevard tramps. | |
| Rushes (1981) 170: [of a man] You fucking bitch! You’re nothing but a wasted tramp, give up! |
4. (US campus) an affectionate term of address.
| Campus Sl. Spring 8: tramp – friendly noun of address, usually to girl by a girl. |
5. (US) in cards, the queen.
| Gutshot Straight [ebook] Queen of hearts. ‘Tramp of hearts,’ Missouri Bob said. |
6. (orig. US black) a member of a rival gang.
| Ghettoside 170: ‘A tramp just got chipped,’ she told him [...] it meant a gang rival had been shot. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Young Team 45: They’ve git another wee entourage roon them ae wee tag-alongs n tramps fae other schemes. |
In derivatives
(US black) of a woman, promiscuous.
| (con. 1950s) Whoreson 111: If you feel sorry for that trampish ass bitch, don’t. | |
| Street Players 50: Put you niggers around some tramp-ass white bitch, and all of you will sit there. |
In compounds
(US) a tattoo placed on a woman’s lower back above the crevice of the buttocks.
| Heidi’s Bedtime Stories 73: Every day beautiful women come into the shop wearing tiny string bikinis and flaunting their assets. Most of them want what I call the tramp stamp—you know, a tattoo on the lower back. | |
| Pain Killers 196: A fat girl [...] her tramp stamp visible where her jeans rode low over her butt crack. | |
| slate.com 19 June 🌐 Bikinis have never been smaller. Hoochies have never been hotter. Tramp stamps have never been trampier. | |
| Price You Pay 177: [T]he girl your mama is terrified you’ll end up with will have a tramp stamp with my face on her perfect roses-and-cream ass. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(UK Und.) a sentence of 90 days imprisonment, commonly that meted out for vagrancy.
| Phenomena in Crime 255: Tramps’ lagging. Fourteen days’ imprisonment. | |
| Lowspeak 141: Tramp’s lagging – three months imprisonment. Considered severe since tramps would normally have received a sentence of a week or two. |
In phrases
(Aus.) to die.
| ‘Consolation‘ in Bulletin Reciter n.p.: He dropped dead of a suddent [sic] / Yes, poor Michael’s gone on tramp. |
on a thieving expedition, pickpocketing.
| ‘A Shove In The Mouth’ in Regular Thing, And No Mistake 61: Besides too, a quid, which I yarned on the tramp – / The wages of mang a leer. | |
| Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. I 13: What, warn’t none of the files on the tramp? |
living as a vagrant.
| Dundee Courier (Scot.) 29 Apr. 7/4: Halloa! old gal! are you on tramp? | |
| Dundee Courier (Scot.) 24 May 7/3: Brine [was] one of the most accomplished dodgers ‘on tramp’. | |
| Leicester Chron. 12 July 10/4: ‘And what are you going to do now?’ ‘Go on tramp — live on my wits.’. | |
| Derbys. Advertiser 2 Dec. 25/4: On reaching the ‘big house’ I found [...] a crowd of about a dozen roadsters, including a woman — a sad sight to see on tramp. |