Hobo Slang

Hobo term 	Explanation
Accommodation car 	the caboose of a train
Angellina 	a young inexperienced child
Bad road 	a train line rendered useless by some hobo's bad action or crime
Banjo 	(1) a small portable frying pan; (2) a short, "D"-handled shovel, generally used for shoveling coal
Barnacle 	a person who sticks to one job a year or more
Beachcomber 	a hobo who hangs around docks or seaports
Big house 	prison
Bindle stick 	a collection of belongings wrapped in cloth and tied around a stick
Bindlestiff 	a hobo who carries a bindle
Blowed-in-the-glass 	a genuine, trustworthy individual
'Bo 	the common way one hobo referred to another: "I met that 'bo on the way to Bangor last spring."
Boil up 	specifically, to boil one's clothes to kill lice and their eggs; generally, to get oneself as clean as possible
Bone polisher 	a mean dog
Bone orchard 	a graveyard
Bull 	a railroad officer
Bullets 	beans
Buck 	a Catholic priest, good for a dollar
Burger 	today's lunch
C, H, and D 	indicates an individual is "Cold, Hungry, and Dry" (thirsty)
California blankets 	newspapers, intended to be used for bedding on a park bench
Calling in 	using another's campfire to warm up or cook
Cannonball 	a fast train
Carrying the banner 	keeping in constant motion so as to avoid being picked up for loitering or to keep from freezing
Catch the westbound 	to die
Chuck a dummy 	pretend to faint
Cooties 	body lice
Cover with the moon 	sleep out in the open
Cow crate 	a railroad stock car
Crumbs 	lice
Jackson paper 	A $10 bill
Docandoberry 	anything edible that grows on a riverbank
Doggin' it 	traveling by bus, especially on the Greyhound bus line
Easy mark 	a hobo sign or mark that identifies a person or place where one can get food and a place to stay overnight
Elevated 	under the influence of drugs or alcohol
Flip 	to board a moving train
Flop 	a place to sleep, by extension, "flophouse", a cheap hotel
The four year vagrant 	president
Glad rags 	one's best clothes
Graybacks 	lice
Grease the track 	to be run over by a train
Gump 	a chicken
Honey dipping 	working with a shovel in the sewer
Hot 	(1) a fugitive hobo; (2) a hot or decent meal: "I could use a hot and a flop"
Hot shot 	a train with priority freight, stops rarely, goes faster; synonym for "Cannonball"
Jungle 	an area off a railroad where hoboes camp and congregate
Jungle buzzard 	a hobo or tramp who preys on his own
Knowledge bus 	a school bus used for shelter
Maeve 	a young hobo, usually a girl
Main drag 	the busiest road in a town
Men in suits 	politicians in D.C.
Moniker / Monica 	a nickname
Mulligan stew 	a type of community stew, created by several hoboes combining whatever food they have or can collect
Nickel note 	a five-dollar bill
On the fly 	jumping a moving train
Ol' Frankie on the hots	when the conductor of the train notices a hobo in the accommodation car and sends the security,
Padding the hoof 	to travel by foot
Possum belly 	to ride on the roof of a passenger car (one must lie flat, on his/her stomach, to avoid being blown off)
Pullman 	a railroad sleeper car; most were once made by the George Pullman company
Punk 	any young kid
Reefer 	a compression or "refrigerator car"
Road kid 	a young hobo who apprentices himself to an older hobo in order to learn the ways of the road
Road stake 	the small reserve amount of money a hobo may keep in case of an emergency
Rum dum 	a drunkard
Sky pilot 	a preacher or minister
Skunk funk 	Marijuana that is laced with another substance (e,g, fentanyl, LSD, MDMA, etc...)
Soup bowl 	a place to get soup, bread and drinks
Snipes 	cigarette butts "sniped" (e.g., from ashtrays or sidewalks)
Spare biscuits 	looking for food in a garbage can
Stemming 	panhandling or begging along the streets
Tokay blanket 	drinking alcohol to stay warm
Yegg 	a traveling professional thief, or burglar