Meanings
plural tramp steamers
- nauticalA commercial steamship that has no regular schedule or published ports of call.
They found out I was bright, so they figured I'd make a good labor organizer when I got out of school. When I left at the end of the summer, they carefully instructed me how to shag a tramp steamer in 'Frisco going south, lending me an old union card so I could work my passage as a deck hand.
1994 October, Harry Hay, “Focussing On NAMBLA Obscures The Issues”, in Gay Community News, page 16Synonyms: ocean tramp
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA commercial steamship that has no regular schedule or published ports of call.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna commercial steamer for hire; one having no regular schedule
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
tramp steamer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tramp%20steamer
“tramp steamer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tramp%20steamer. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tramp steamer,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tramp%20steamer.
Source: tramp steamer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.