Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To move about aimlessly: synonym: wander.
  • intransitive verb To walk casually or leisurely.
  • intransitive verb To follow an irregularly winding course of motion or growth.
  • intransitive verb To speak or write at length and with many digressions.
  • intransitive verb To move about aimlessly through or over.
  • noun A leisurely, sometimes lengthy walk.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A roving or wandering movement; a going or turning about irregularly or indefinitely; especially, a leisurely or sauntering walk in varying directions.
  • noun A place to ramble in; a mazy walk or tract.
  • noun In coal-mining, thin shaly beds of stone, taken down with the coal, above which a good roof may be met with.
  • To roam or wander about in a leisurely manner; go from point to point carelessly or irregularly; rove: as, to ramble about the eity or over the country.
  • To take a wavering or wandering course; proceed with irregular turns, windings, or transitions; show a lack of definite direction or arrangement: as, a rambling path or house; a rambling discourse; the vine rambles every way; he rambled on in his incoherent speech.
  • To reel; stagger.
  • Synonyms Ramble, Stroll, Saunter, Rove, Roam, Wander, Range., Stray. Ramble, by derivation, also stroll and saunter, and stray when used in this sense, express a less extended course than the others. To ramble or stroll is to go about, as fancy leads, for the pleasure of being abroad. To saunter is to go along idly, and therefore slowly. One may saunter or stroll, stray or wander, along one street as far as it goes. To ramble, rove, or roam is to pursue a course that is not very straight. One may rove, roam, or wander with some briskness or for some object, as in search of a lost child. One may wander about or stray about because he has lost his way. The wild beast ranges, roves, or roams in search of prey. Roam expresses most of definite purpose: as, to roam over Europe.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A going or moving from place to place without any determinate business or object; an excursion or stroll merely for recreation.
  • noun (Coal Mining) A bed of shale over the seam.
  • noun A section of woods suitable for leisurely walking.
  • noun a type of dance.
  • intransitive verb To walk, ride, or sail, from place to place, without any determinate object in view; to roam carelessly or irregularly; to rove; to wander
  • intransitive verb To talk or write in a discursive, aimless way.
  • intransitive verb To extend or grow at random.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A leisurely stroll; a recreational walk in the countryside.
  • noun A rambling; an instance of someone talking at length without direction.
  • noun mining A bed of shale over the seam of coal.
  • noun A section of woodland suitable for leisurely walking.
  • verb To move about aimlessly, or on a winding course
  • verb To walk for pleasure; to amble or saunter.
  • verb To talk or write incessantly, unclearly, or incoherently, with many digressions.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb continue talking or writing in a desultory manner
  • verb move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
  • noun an aimless amble on a winding course

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably from Middle Dutch *rammelen, to wander about in a state of sexual desire, from rammen, to copulate with.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

An altered form (with dissimilation of mm to mb) of dial. rammle, from Middle English *ramelen, frequentive of ramen ("to roam, ramble"); see roam.

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Examples

  • My point in my sad (melodramatic, if you will) little ramble is that only now do I realize just how much we've strayed from the real reasons we celebrate these days in the first place - being grateful for those around you, the love that you are able to both give and receive along the pathway of your life, and for the little things everyday that we take for granted.

    Saying Thanks Sarah 2009

  • My point in my sad (melodramatic, if you will) little ramble is that only now do I realize just how much we've strayed from the real reasons we celebrate these days in the first place - being grateful for those around you, the love that you are able to both give and receive along the pathway of your life, and for the little things everyday that we take for granted.

    Archive 2009-10-01 Sarah 2009

  • This free associative Edwards ramble is even less coherent than his debate answer.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Good Edwards 2007

  • Anyway, part of tonight's short ramble is about format.

    This LJ, and a brief bit about book formats msagara 2004

  • News Sources wrote an interesting post today onHere's a quick excerptA few interesting contrasts between life in China and life in the United States as I ramble from the Chinese Yuan to Fireworks to Freedom of the Press to Global Warmingby Jake, the Champion of the ConstitutionOriginally published Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at

    Libertarian Blog Place 2009

  • A few interesting contrasts between life in China and life in the United States as I ramble from the Chinese Yuan to Fireworks to Freedom of the Press to Global Warming by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution

    Libertarian Blog Place 2009

  • A few interesting contrasts between life in China and life in the United States as I ramble from the Chinese Yuan to Fireworks to Freedom of the Press to Global Warming

    Libertarian Blog Place 2009

  • Mini-rant over; we now return you to your main ramble.

    Barnstorming on an Invisible Segway 2009

  • You even talk about in many of your video blogs how much both of you ramble, which is fine.

    Video Blog: The Future of Star Trek | /Film 2009

  • My ramble was a sequestered one, and well screened, even at this late season, with foliage; the pathway devious among the stems of old trees, and its flooring interlaced and groined with their knotted roots.

    Uncle Silas 2003

Comments

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  • I love this word and do it often, both in the sense of walking and talking.

    June 18, 2009