truant
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɹuːənt/
ipa: /ˈtɹuənt/
rhymes: -uːənt
Forms: form: truants
Etymology: The adjective and noun are derived from Middle English truant, truand, truaund (“(adjective) idle; tending to vagrancy (uncertain; may be a use of the noun); (noun) beggar; mendicant friar; vagrant, wanderer; worthless person, rogue, scoundrel; one who is absent without leave, truant; one who shirks duties”), from Old French truant, truand (“(adjective) beggarly; roguish; (noun) a beggar, vagabond; a rogue”) (modern French truand), probably of Celtic origin, possibly from Gaulish *trugan, or from Breton truan (“wretched”), from Proto-Celtic *térh₁-tro-m, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to drill, pierce; to rub; to turn”).
Cognates
* Breton truc (“beggar”)
* Irish trogán, trogha (“destitute”)
* Middle Dutch trawant, trouwant, truwant
* Occitan truan
* Portuguese truão
* Scottish Gaelic trudanach (“vagabond”), truaghan (“wretched”)
* Spanish truhan
* Welsh tru, truan (“wretched”)
Senses: examples: text: For my part I may ſpeake it to my ſhame, / I haue a truant beene to Chiualrie, […]
ref: c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], signature D3, recto:
text: You loiter, vvhile the Spoils are born avvay: / Our Ships are laden vvith the Trojan Store, / And you like Truants come too late aſhore.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 249, lines 505–507:
synonyms: word: bum
word: couch potato
word: dawdler
word: deadbeat
word: dogfucker
word: do-naught
word: do-nothing
word: dosser
word: idler
word: idleton
word: faineant
word: flaneur
word: footler
word: get-nothing
word: goldbricker
word: goof-off
word: lallygag
word: lollygagger
word: laggard
word: layabout
word: lazy ass
word: lazybones
word: lazy louse
word: lidderon
word: lie-abed
word: loafer
word: loiter-sack
word: lounge lizard
word: lounger
word: morepork
word: poop
word: ragabash
word: shirker
word: slacker
word: slow belly
word: slugabed
word: slug-a-bed
word: slugabug
word: sluggabed
word: sluggard
word: sofa spud
word: tarrier
word: truant
glosses: An idle or lazy person; an idler.
examples: text: [S]ince I pluckt Geeſe, plaide Trevvant, and vvhipt Top, I knevv not vvhat 'tvvas to be beaten, till lately.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 58, column 1:
text: […] I knovve you are no truant, / But vvhat is your affaire in Elſonoure?
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], signature C, verso:
text: The village maſter taught his little ſchool; / A man ſevere he vvas, and ſtern to vievv, / I knevv him vvell, and every truant knevv; […]
ref: 1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC, page 11:
glosses: A student who is absent from school without permission; hence (figurative), a person who shirks or wanders from business or duty.
examples: text: Hang him truant, theres no true drop of bloud in him to be truly toucht vvith loue, if he be ſadde, he vvantes money.
ref: 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], signature E, verso:
synonyms: word: bum
word: casual
word: clochard
raw_tags: in France
word: derelict
word: dero
word: down-and-out
word: down-and-outer
word: drifter
word: epithite
word: floater
word: gadling
word: hobo
word: Jack out of doors
word: knight of the road
word: landleaper
word: landloper
word: landlouper
word: nomad
word: paker
word: palliard
word: pike
word: piker
word: ranger
word: rogue
word: rolling stone
word: rough sleeper
word: scatterling
word: skelder
word: skell
word: stroller
word: stumblebum
word: swagman
word: swaggie
word: toerag
word: tramp
word: truant
word: vagabond
word: vagrant
word: wanderer
word: waif
word: yagger
word: absolute zero
word: asswipe
word: badling
word: blatherskite
word: bugger
word: carrion
word: cipher
word: cockstain
word: crumb
word: custron
word: dandiprat
word: doink
word: fellow
word: fritlag
word: geek
word: good-for-naught
word: good-for-nothing
word: hoon
word: lidderon
word: losel
word: loser
word: louse
word: maggot
word: nonce
word: nowmun
word: ne'er-do-well
word: no-good
word: no-mark
word: nonentity
word: pelf
word: pig dog
word: pile of shit
word: pissant
word: punk
word: puny
word: quat
word: ramp
word: rinky-dink
word: roly-poly
word: scullion
word: slubberdegullion
word: sparrow-fart
word: streak of piss
word: toerag
word: truant
word: twerp
word: wankstain
word: waste of space
word: underperson
word: unworthy
word: sturdy beggar
extra: (“a person who was fit and able to work, but lived as a beggar or vagrant instead”); hence, a worthless person; a rogue, a scoundrel
glosses: Synonym of sturdy beggar (“a person who was fit and able to work, but lived as a beggar or vagrant instead”); hence, a worthless person; a rogue, a scoundrel.
Derived terms: word: play truant
word: truancy
word: truantism
word: truantlike
word: truantly
word: truant officer
word: truantry
word: truant school
word: truantship