ambit

noun

Etymology: From Late Middle English ambyte, borrowed from Latin ambitus (“circuit; circumference, perimeter; area within a perimeter; ground around a building; cycle, orbit, revolution”) (compare Late Latin ambitus (“neighbourhood; wall of a castle, monastery, or town; cloister; parish boundary”)), from ambīre + -tus (suffix forming verbal nouns from verbs). Ambīre is the present active infinitive of ambiō (“to go around, to skirt; to encircle, surround”), from ambi- (“prefix meaning ‘both, on both sides’”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- (“front; face; forehead”)) + eō (“to go, move”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”)). The English word is a doublet of ambitus.

1. The extent of actions, thoughts, or the meaning of words, etc.

   “Nickle shrugged his shoulders to indicate the inexpressible ambit of Mr. Bronsky's obvious shortcomings.”

2. The extent of actions, thoughts, or the meaning of words, etc.

   “He had invited Destiny to sweep him up in her reaping, by placing himself in the ambit of her scythe; but the sharp reaping-hook had passed him by.”

3. The boundary around a building, town, region, etc.
4. The circumference of something circular; also, an arc; a circuit, an orbit.
5. Chiefly in the plural form ambits: the open space surrounding a building, town, etc.; the grounds or precincts of a place.