Bindlestiff

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈbɪnd(ə)lstɪf/

Definitions

1. a wandering laborer or hobo who carries a bundle of possessions while traveling in search of work
2. a homeless vagrant or itinerant worker who travels from place to place with their meager belongings tied in a bundle
3. an unemployed transient person who roams about carrying a pack or bindle in pursuit of casual labor

Etymology: A "bindlestiff" is a hobo or migrant worker, particularly one who carries a bundle of possessions. The word is an American coinage from the late 19th century, blending two distinct elements that each had their own earlier origins. The first part, "bindle," refers to a bundle or pack, typically the cloth sack that a vagrant or itinerant laborer would tie up and carry over their shoulder. "Bindle" itself has uncertain origins, though it may derive from German "Bündel" (bundle) or possibly from a Yiddish source. The term appeared in American English by the 1870s, becoming especially common in the context of hobo culture and migrant labor during the industrial era. A "bindle stiff" was thus literally a person stiff or rigid with carrying a bindle—someone who tramped from place to place with their worldly goods bundled on their back. The second part, "stiff," was American slang for a person, particularly one of low social standing or in a difficult circumstance. By the mid-19th century, "stiff" had come to mean a vagrant, tramp, or laborer in the American vernacular. The compound "bindlestiff" emerged organically from these two slang terms, gaining currency among railroad workers, loggers, and other migratory laborers in the American West and Midwest. The word flourished in the early 20th century as a descriptor for the itinerant working poor, and it appears frequently in American literature and journalism from that period. Though the era of the classic hobo has largely passed, "bindlestiff" survives as a historical term evoking the romanticized or hardscrabble image of the American vagrant wanderer.