Word of the Day

: January 5, 2018

bindle stiff

noun BIN-dul-stiff

What It Means

: hobo; especially : one who carries his clothes or bedding in a bundle

bindle stiff in Context

"A bindle stiff smoked in the partly open doorway of a Rock Island boxcar, nothing supernatural about him." — John Farris, Phantom Nights, 2005

"Like Alamosa, Durango and Chama, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad created Salida, a sooty town complete with coal dust, tired railroad workers and the occasional bindle stiff or hobo who walked down the tracks looking for handouts." — Andrew Gulliford, The Durango (Colorado) Herald, 12 Apr. 2015

Did You Know?

In the argot of tramps and hoboes, a roll of clothes and bedding was called a bindle, a word that probably originated as an alteration of the more familiar bundle. Stiff itself can mean "hobo" or "migrant worker," meanings it took on in the late 19th century. About the same time, any tramp or hobo who habitually carried such a pack was known as a bindle stiff. In Australia, a pack-carrying hobo might be called a swagman.