Dictionary

perambulate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (UK) audio
• /pəɹˈæmbjʊˌleɪt/
• /pəɹˈæmbjəˌleɪt/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per-der. Proto-Italic *peri- Latin per- Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts? Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰíder. Proto-Italic *amβi- Latin ambi- Proto-Indo-European *h₂elh₂-der. Proto-Italic *alō Latin *alō Latin ambulō Latin perambulō Latin perambulātusbor. English perambulate Borrowed from Latin perambulō, perambulātus. Equivalent to per- + ambulate.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To walk around, roam, or stroll.
   • Near-synonym: ambulate (sometimes synonymous)
   • Take, for instance, one of the most wretched classes of the community, the poor fellows who perambulate the streets as Sandwich Men. These are farmed out by certain firms. 1890, William Booth, “The regimentation of the unemployed”, in In Darkest England and the Way Out:
   • They dragged themselves from the swamp singly, and in twos and threes, more dead than alive, mere perambulating skeletons, until at last there were thirty of us. 1906, Jack London, chapter XVIII, in Before Adam:
2. (transitive) To inspect (an area) on foot.
   • The officials, in their gowns of grey, with a white St. Andrew’s cross on back and breast, and a white cloth carried before them on a staff, perambulated the city, adding the terror of man’s justice to the fear of God’s visitation. 1903, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter IV, in Edinburgh:

Forms

Deriveds

perambulation · absquatulate · perambulator

Relateds

amble

Synonyms

ambulate

Translations (9)

pt passear (roam, stroll) · pl przechadzać się (roam, stroll) · ru бродить (roam, stroll) · bg обикалям (roam, stroll) · ga máirseáil (roam, stroll) · de durchreisen (roam, stroll) · pt vaguear (roam, stroll) · pt perambular (roam, stroll) · bg обхождам (roam, stroll)