perambulate

verb

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.

1. To walk about, roam or stroll; to ambulate.

   “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.”

   “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.”

2. 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.”