rolling stone

noun

A person who moves around a lot and never settles down; a vagrant.

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Meanings

rolling stone1

nounrolling stone (plural rolling stones)

plural rolling stones

  1. idiomaticA person who moves around a lot and never settles down; a vagrant.

    How does it feel To be on your own With no direction home Like a complete unknown Like a rolling stone?

    1965, Bob Dylan, “Like a Rolling Stone”, in Highway 61 Revisited
    2 more examples

    Before that they had been a good deal on the move, trekking about after the white man, who was one of those rolling stones that keep going round after a soft job.

    1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beach of Falesá

    I'm sorry; I'm a bit of a rolling stone, I suppose. When Darrish came back to Netherhempsfield my job was done there. I felt uncommonly restless.

    1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
  2. slangA womanizer.

    Papa was a rolling stone Wherever he laid his hat was his home And when he died, all he left us was a loan

    1972, Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield, “Papa Was a Rollin' Stone”
  3. geographyA geological phenomenon where rocks move and inscribe long tracks along a smooth valley floor without animal or human intervention.
  4. astronomyA meteoroid.

Rolling Stone2

nounRolling Stone (plural Rolling Stones)

plural Rolling Stones

  1. Any of the members of the Rolling Stones.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
vagabond

Origin

From the proverb a rolling stone gathers no moss.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian скитник
  • скитник (skitnik)person who moves around and never settles down
French clochard, bourlingueur
  • clochardperson who moves around and never settles down
  • bourlingueurperson who moves around and never settles down
  • clochardeperson who moves around and never settles down
German Rumtreiber, Herumtreiber
  • Rumtreiberperson who moves around and never settles down
  • Herumtreiberperson who moves around and never settles down
Māori waewae kura
  • waewae kuraperson who moves around and never settles down
Portuguese ludâmbulo
  • ludâmbuloperson who moves around and never settles down
Spanish vagabundo, trotamundos
  • vagabundoperson who moves around and never settles down
  • trotamundosperson who moves around and never settles down
  • vagabundaperson who moves around and never settles down
  • perdedorperson who moves around and never settles down
  • perdedoraperson who moves around and never settles down
  • bala perdidaperson who moves around and never settles down
Cite this entry
APA

rolling stone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rolling%20stone

MLA

“rolling stone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rolling%20stone. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rolling stone,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rolling%20stone.

Source: rolling stone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.