Dictionary

perambulator en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /pəˈɹæm.bjʊ.leɪ.təɹ/
• (Southern-England) audio

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 Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Latin -ātor Old French -eorbor. Middle English -our ▲ Latin -torlbor. English -or English perambulator From perambulate + -or.

Meanings

1. (Ireland, UK, dated) A baby carriage.
   • The reapers were slowly trooping back to their work. The nurse-girl slapped one of her charges and then began to push the perambulator up the hill. 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
   • On Queen Victoria buying numerous perambulators in 1846, their popularity soared, especially among the affluent in society. Faced with carrying growing numbers of them, railways began charging separately for their carriage from the late 1850s. […] Perambulator tickets remained until the late 20th century, although they came to be seen as a restriction on family travel. 2023 October 18, Dr David Turner, “Family values...”, in RAIL, number 994, page 46:
   • "That will be all this afternoon," he said to the nurse, who got up with the baby and decanted it into a perambulator which was standing in the fairway. 1919, P. G. Wodehouse, My Man Jeeves:
2. One who perambulates.
3. A surveyor's instrument for measuring distances, consisting of a wheel that rolls over the ground, along with a clockwork apparatus and a dial plate upon which the distance travelled is shown by an index.

Forms

Relateds

perambulate · perambulatory · perambulation

Synonyms

pram