A hobo is a person with no home who travels from place to place, especially in the United States, and has no regular job. In the old American picture, a hobo rides trains that carry goods, takes short jobs, and keeps moving. Though actually, older American speakers tried to keep three words apart: a hobo travels and works, a tramp travels but does not work, and a bum does neither — but most people now just hear “homeless wanderer,” and the word can sound rough or old-fashioned. Do not use it as a joke about someone who is poor. As a verb, to hobo is to live and travel that way. Nobody is quite sure where the word comes from.