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Drifter vs Vagabond - What's the difference?

drifter | vagabond |

As nouns the difference between drifter and vagabond

is that drifter is a person who moves from place to place or job to job while vagabond is a person on a trip of indeterminate destination and/or length of time.

As a verb vagabond is

to roam, as a vagabond.

As an adjective vagabond is

floating about without any certain direction; driven to and fro.

drifter

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (pejorative) A person who moves from place to place or job to job.
  • (nautical) A type of lightweight sail used in light winds like a spinnaker.
  • * 1995 , Ken Textor, The New Book of Sail Trim (page 85)
    • In winds above 10 knots we usually run wing-and-wing with our 100 percent lapper set on a whisker pole opposite the mainsail. As the wind drops, we get out the drifter and set it flying to leeward (Fig. 1).
  • * 1999 , Lin Pardey, ?Larry Pardey, Cost Conscious Cruiser: Champagne Cruising on a Beer Budget
    • After trying a variety of light-wind sails, we've found the most versatile and simple one to be a nylon drifter .
  • * 2000 , Jim Howard, ?Charles J. Doane, Handbook of Offshore Cruising (page 178)
    • Some people recommend a medium- to lightweight 140- or 150-percent headsail, and others go for a drifter /reacher.
  • (automotive) A driver who uses driving techniques to modify vehicle traction to cause a vehicle to slide or power slide rather than drive in line with the tires.
  • * 2006 , Paul Morton, How to Drift: The Art of Oversteer (page 32)
    • However, sensing the available traction may actually be more important to a drifter .
  • * 2007 , Calvin Wan, Calvin Wan's Drifting Performance Handbook (page 132)
    • For professional drifters looking for even more fine-tuning of their suspension setups, some companies offer more advanced two-way adjustable shocks
  • * 2009 , Michael Bender, The Fast, the Fraudulent and the Fatal (page 50)
    • While this method is used by a few drifters in rear-wheel drive cars, this technique is really the only way one can drift in a front-wheel drive car.

    vagabond

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person on a trip of indeterminate destination and/or length of time.
  • One who wanders from place to place, having no fixed dwelling, or not abiding in it, and usually without the means of honest livelihood; a vagrant; a hobo.
  • * Bible, Genesis iv. 12
    • A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Hypernyms

    * person

    Related terms

    * extravagant

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To roam, as a vagabond

    • Adjective

    (-)
  • Floating about without any certain direction; driven to and fro.
  • * Milton
    • To heaven their prayers / Flew up, nor missed the way, by envious winds / Blown vagabond or frustrate.
  • * 1959 , Jack London, The Star Rover
    • Truly, the worships of the Mystery wandered as did men, and between filchings and borrowings the gods had as vagabond a time of it as did we.
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