Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An American lycænid butterfly, Feniseca tarquinius, wide-spread in the United States east of Kansas. Its larvæ feed upon plant-lice on alder.
  • noun One who or that which wanders; one who roams about, having no home or certain place of abode; also, one who strays from the path of duty.
  • noun plural In Arachnida, specifically, the wandering as distinguished from the sedentary spiders; the vagabonds. See Vagabundæ.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who wanders; a rambler; one who roves; hence, one who deviates from duty.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who wanders, who travels aimlessly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who leads a wandering unsettled life
  • noun a computer program that prowls the internet looking for publicly accessible resources that can be added to a database; the database can then be searched with a search engine

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Riese, a seemingly random wanderer, is being hunted by a terrifying religious cult, The Sect.

    WATCH THE AMBIGUOUS TRAILER FOR THE NEW STEAMPUNK SERIES RIESE | Open Society Book Club Discussions and Reviews 2009

  • The wanderer from the West stands awestruck amongst them, filled with vague memories of the cradle of his race, saying, "This did I do some thousands of years ago; thus did I lie in wait for mine enemy; so thought I and so acted I in the beginning of Time."

    High Albania Mary Edith 1909

  • So ended the war of the usurpers; and the last and most doubtful of all the usurpers, a wanderer from the Welsh marches, a knight from nowhere, found the crown of England under a bush of thorn.

    A Short History of England 1905

  • The Rentfrow ammunition was exhausted for a minute, and the wanderer from the Italian coast once more slipped the cog to "The Holy City" -- a war hymn in slow time.

    Idle Comments 1905

  • OUR wanderer is returned, my dear, and in such spirits as you can't conceive: he passed yesterday with us; he likes to have us to himself, and he had yesterday; we walked à trio in the wood, and were foolish; I have not passed so agreable a day since I came to

    The History of Emily Montague 1769

  • Wazirs that I have been a wanderer from the right way, drowned in ignorance, opposed to admonition, a breaker of facts and promises and a gainsayer of good counsellors; and the cause of all this was my being fooled by these women and the wiles whereby they beset me and the glozing lure of their speech, whereby they seduced me to sin and my acceptance of this, for that I deemed the words of them true and loyal counsel, by reason of their sweetness and softness; but lo, and behold! they were deadly poison.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • They recall the wanderer to a sense of his Duty, tho he has strayed many many times.

    Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 11 November 1783 1993

  • The time of holiday reading and holiday rambling has come to its end; and a voice calls the wanderer back to more sedate and methodical pursuits.

    The Book-Hunter A New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author John Hill Burton

  • It contained all that Christian principle and sisterly affection could dictate to recall a wanderer home, and it went to my heart.

    Hurrah for New England! The Virginia Boy's Vacation Louisa C. Tuthill

  • So I promptly wired that hotel, only to learn that my titled wanderer might be found in San Francisco, at the Hotel St. Francis.

    The Prairie Mother Arthur Stringer 1912

Comments

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  • Viator?

    August 5, 2009

  • Nope. Try again. This one's not all that hard, but one never knows about such things, do one? :)

    August 5, 2009

  • Some thesaurus-dictionary cross-referencing yields vagrant and vagabond. Is that licit or does it already verge on cheating?

    August 5, 2009

  • Arcturus, the "wanderer star". Peregrino, nomad.

    August 5, 2009

  • Planet?

    August 5, 2009

  • I hope it's planet; planet is kewl. :-)

    August 5, 2009

  • Yep, it's planet. Good going.

    August 5, 2009