1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Tramp

TRAMP, a vagrant, one who “tramps” or walks the roads begging from house to house or ostensibly looking for work, but with no home and habitually sleeping out or moving on from the casual ward of one workhouse to that of another (see Vagrancy). The word is the shortened form of “tramper,” one who tramps or walks with heavy tread. The term “tramp” is also used of a cargo steamer not running on a regular line but passing from port to port where freight may be picked up.