Generally by the word vagrant is understood a person who lives idly without any settled home; but this definition is much enlarged by some statutes, and it includes those who refuse to work, or go about begging.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
A wandering, idle person; a strolling or sturdy beggar. A general term, including, in English law, the seyeral classes of idle and disorderly persons, rogues, and vagabonds, and incorrigible rogues. 4 Steph. Comm. 308, 309. In American law, the term is variously de-lined by statute but the general meaning is that of an able-bodied person having no visible means of support and who lives idly without seeking work, or who is a professional beggar, or roams about from place to place without regular employment or fixed residence ; and In some states the term also includes those who have a fixed habitation and pursue a regular calling but one which is condemned by the law as immoral, such as gambling or prostitution. Vagrant Act. In English law. The statute 5 Geo. IV. c. 83, which is an act for the punishment of idle and disorderly persons.