Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To walk through.
  • intransitive verb To inspect (an area) on foot.
  • intransitive verb To walk about; roam or stroll.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To walk through, about, or over.
  • To survey while passing through; traverse and examine; survey the boundaries of: as, to perambulate a parish or its boundaries.
  • To walk, or walk about.
  • To be carried in a, perambulator.

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

  • transitive verb To walk through or over; especially, to travel over for the purpose of surveying or examining; to inspect by traversing; specifically, to inspect officially the boundaries of, as of a town or parish, by walking over the whole line.
  • intransitive verb To walk about; to ramble; to stroll.

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

  • verb intransitive To walk about, roam or stroll.
  • verb transitive To inspect (an area) on foot.

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

  • verb make an official inspection on foot of (the bounds of a property)
  • verb walk with no particular goal

Etymologies

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

[Latin perambulāre, perambulāt- : per-, per- + ambulāre, to walk; see ambhi in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin perambulō.

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Examples

  • The spatial character of architectural mnemonics — that one would "perambulate" cloisters and palaces in the mind, composing narratives with the ornaments and images arrayed therein — reflects a phenomenological dimension to thought that may be quite foreign to a modern-day observer.

    Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008

  • While healthy elephants can trudge long distances in search of water, "weak and sick" animals are unable to "perambulate" and succumb, says forest veterinarian Dr N.S. Manoharan.

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2010

  • While healthy elephants can trudge long distances in search of water, "weak and sick" animals are unable to "perambulate" and succumb, says forest veterinarian Dr N.S. Manoharan.

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2010

  • Then again, I'm positively balmy myself, so I was prepared to perambulate with a pack of pinniped pals.

    Jerry Zezima: "Seals of Approval" Jerry Zezima 2011

  • But for many of us, pedestrians are the major threat, particularly when they perambulate in an iPod bubble.

    Two Wheels that Tame Your City Paul Hannon 2011

  • Unlike the Tuilleries, the Luxembourg is where Parisians go to perambulate.

    What to Do in Paris / Que faire a Paris? - French Word-A-Day 2009

  • Go on, now: bust a move, or whatever it is you homeboys do to help you perambulate.

    The Whisperers John Connolly 2010

  • Go on, now: bust a move, or whatever it is you homeboys do to help you perambulate.

    The Whisperers John Connolly 2010

  • I find myself having to tell my students to unlearn this tendency by, among others, asking them to throw their thesaurus away, especially when the only reason they turn to it is to find a fancier word for something as basic as “talk” (expostulate?) or “walk” (perambulate?)

    Archive 2010-03-01 2010

  • I find myself having to tell my students to unlearn this tendency by, among others, asking them to throw their thesaurus away, especially when the only reason they turn to it is to find a fancier word for something as basic as “talk” (expostulate?) or “walk” (perambulate?)

    Early And Late, By Butch Dalisay 2010

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