Latin, literally "woe to the vanquished," from Livy, "History" V.xlviii.9.

c. 1400, earlier wagabund (in a criminal indictment from 1311); see vagabond (adj.). Despite the earliest use, in Middle English often merely "one who is without a settled home, a vagrant" but not necessarily in a bad sense. Notion of "idle, disreputable person" predominated from 17c.

early 15c. (earlier vacabond, c. 1400), from Old French vagabond, vacabond "wandering, unsteady" (14c.), from Late Latin vagabundus "wandering, strolling about," from Latin vagari "wander" (from vagus "wandering, undecided;" see vague) + gerundive suffix -bundus.

"pertaining to the vagus," 1846, from vagus + -al (1).

1570s, "a wandering, a roaming journey," from Italian vagare or directly from Latin vagari "to wander, stroll about, roam, be unsettled, spread abroad," from vagus "roving, wandering" (see vague). The infinitive appears to have been adopted in English as a noun and conformed to nouns in -ary, "but this can hardly be explained except as an orig. university use" [Century Dictionary]. Current meaning of "eccentric notion or conduct" (1620s) is from notion of mental wandering. Related: Vagaries.

"inflammation of the vagina," 1833, medical Latin; see vagina + -itis "inflammation."

1726, "pertaining to a sheath," from vagina + -al (1). From 1800 as "pertaining to the vagina of a female." Related: Vaginally.

"sexual passage of the female from the vulva to the uterus," 1680s, medical Latin, from specialized use of Latin vagina "sheath, scabbard, covering; sheath of an ear of grain, hull, husk" (plural vaginae), a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps cognate with Lithuanian vožiu, vožti  "to cover with a hollow thing," but de Vaan points out that "Obviously, this is a gratuitous proposal." A modern medical word; the Latin word was not used in an anatomical sense in classical times. Anthropological vagina dentata is attested from 1902.

"spasmodic narrowing of the orifice of the vagina," 1861, medical Latin, from vagina + -ismus (see -ism).

crying of a newborn child, 1650s, from Latin vagitus "a crying, squalling," from vagire (see sough (v.)).