Saturday 6 February 2010

Perambulate

perambulate \puh-RAM-byuh-layt\, intransitive verb:

1. To walk about; to roam; to stroll; as, "he perambulated in the park."

transitive verb:

1. To walk through or over.
2. To travel over for the purpose of surveying or inspecting.

At Syon, we perambulate a succession of rooms of the greatest magnificence, beginning with the entrance hall, with an apse of columns -- characteristic of Adam, all dazzling whiteness.
-- A. L. Rowse, "At Home with History in London", New York Times, January 19, 1986

Perambulate comes from Latin per-, "through" + ambulare, "to walk." The noun form is perambulation.

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