PERAMBULATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does perambulate mean? 

• PERAMBULATE (verb)
  The verb PERAMBULATE has 2 senses:

1. make an official inspection on foot of (the bounds of a property)

2. walk with no particular goal

  Familiarity information: PERAMBULATE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERAMBULATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they perambulate    ... he / she / it perambulates   
Past simple: perambulated   
Past participle: perambulated   
-ing form: perambulating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make an official inspection on foot of (the bounds of a property)

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

Selectmen are required by law to perambulate the bounds every five years

Hypernyms (to "perambulate" is one way to...):

inspect (look over carefully)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

perambulation (a walk around a territory (a parish or manor or forest etc.) in order to officially assert and record its boundaries)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Walk with no particular goal

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

perambulate; walk about; walk around

Context example:

after breakfast, she walked about in the park

Hypernyms (to "perambulate" is one way to...):

walk (use one's feet to advance; advance by steps)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue perambulate

Derivation:

amble; perambulation (a leisurely walk (usually in some public place))

 Context examples 

You are a chimney, a living volcano, a perambulating smoke-stack, and you are a perfect disgrace, Martin dear, you know you are.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

They were perambulating skeletons.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

No matter what it was, I, the moon-struck slave of Dora, perambulated round and round the house and garden for two hours, looking through crevices in the palings, getting my chin by dint of violent exertion above the rusty nails on the top, blowing kisses at the lights in the windows, and romantically calling on the night, at intervals, to shield my Dora—I don't exactly know what from, I suppose from fire.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)