RAMBLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ramble mean? 

• RAMBLE (noun)
  The noun RAMBLE has 1 sense:

1. an aimless amble on a winding course

  Familiarity information: RAMBLE used as a noun is very rare.

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

1. continue talking or writing in a desultory manner

2. move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment

  Familiarity information: RAMBLE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RAMBLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An aimless amble on a winding course

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

meander; ramble

Hypernyms ("ramble" is a kind of...):

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

Derivation:

ramble (move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment)

• RAMBLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they ramble    ... he / she / it rambles   
Past simple: rambled   
Past participle: rambled   
-ing form: rambling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Continue talking or writing in a desultory manner

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

jog; ramble; ramble on

Context example:

This novel rambles on and jogs

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

carry on; continue; go on; proceed (continue talking)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

rambler (a person whose speech or writing is not well organized)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

cast; drift; ramble; range; roam; roll; rove; stray; swan; tramp; vagabond; wander

Context example:

They rolled from town to town

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

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

drift; err; stray (wander from a direct course or at random)

wander (go via an indirect route or at no set pace)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "ramble"):

maunder (wander aimlessly)

gad; gallivant; jazz around (wander aimlessly in search of pleasure)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence examples:

They ramble the countryside
They ramble in the countryside

Derivation:

ramble (an aimless amble on a winding course)

rambler (a person who takes long walks in the country)

 Context examples 

It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I passed three days in these rambles and at length discovered the open country.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

‘I have said that the house is a rambling one.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I rambled downstairs to find anything that was like itself, so altered it all seemed; and roamed into the yard.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The house was larger than Hartfield, and totally unlike it, covering a good deal of ground, rambling and irregular, with many comfortable, and one or two handsome rooms.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

One cannot fix one's eyes on the commonest natural production without finding food for a rambling fancy.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Hitherto she had carefully avoided every companion in her rambles.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

“I am afraid I interrupt your solitary ramble, my dear sister?” said he, as he joined her.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Occasionally in our rambles we came across Inspector Baynes.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he had listened with the greatest concentration of attention.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)