wanderer

Everyday

1. A wanderer is a person or animal that travels from place to place with no fixed home or no clear plan. tree →
2. A wanderer can also be someone who likes to roam and explore. tree →

In the lessons

In stories, poems and old tales, wanderers are travellers, knights, pilgrims or lonely figures on the road; the word gives a feeling of freedom or loneliness. In science, «planet» comes from a Greek word meaning «wanderer», because planets move across the night sky against the stars. Phrases: «a lonely wanderer», «the wanderer returns».

Examples

• The old wanderer slept under the stars. tree →
• Our cat is a wanderer and visits every garden on the street. tree →
• The ancient Greeks called the planets «wanderers». tree →
• The wanderer told stories in every village he passed. tree →
• Albatrosses are great wanderers of the southern oceans. tree →
• In the poem, a lonely wanderer walks across the hills. tree →
• From the remotest days men have been wanderers, and wherever they went their stories accompanied them. tree →

Note

Countable: wanderer, wanderers. From «wander» (to walk around slowly without a plan). Do not confuse «wander» (roam) with «wonder» (think about, be amazed) — different spelling and sound: WON-der vs WUN-der. Wolverhampton Wanderers is a football club (a name).

In Jewish tradition

In the Torah, one who has no settled home, like Cain or the Israelites in the desert. The prophets also use it for a homeless stranger in need, and Hosea says Israel will become "wanderers among the nations" for not listening to God.

Interpretation. Cain's wandering is read as the result of his murder of Abel. The Israelites' wandering is punishment for their lack of faith. Hosea's words are read as a warning of exile, and Job's care for the needy wanderer is taken as a model of kindness.

Examples

• And your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your strayings, until your carcasses be consumed in the wilderness. (Torah NUM.14.33, JPS 1917) tree →
• When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth.' (Torah GEN.4.12, JPS 1917) tree →
• If I have seen any wanderer in want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering; (Writings JOB.31.19, JPS 1917) tree →
• Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall wanderers eat. (Prophets ISA.5.17, JPS 1917) tree →
• My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto Him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations. (Prophets HOS.9.17, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable: wanderer, wanderers. From «wander» (to walk around slowly without a plan). Do not confuse «wander» (roam) with «wonder» (think about, be amazed) — different spelling and sound: WON-der vs WUN-der. Wolverhampton Wanderers is a football club (a name).