Library / English Dictionary

RAMBLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An aimless amble on a winding course

Synonyms:

meander; ramble

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Example:

They rolled from town to town

Synonyms:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Continue talking or writing in a desultory manner

Example:

This novel rambles on and jogs

Synonyms:

jog; ramble; ramble on

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

While she remained, a bush of low rambling holly protected her, and they were moving on.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I rambled round the hamlet, going sometimes to a little distance and returning again, for an hour or more.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In her rambling and her idleness she might only be a caricature of herself; but in her silence and sadness she was the very reverse of all that she had been before.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

We had been out for one of our evening rambles, Holmes and I, and had returned about six o’clock on a cold, frosty winter’s evening.

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

But when they sat together in the twilight, the time they used to enjoy so much, it was hard work for the old man to ramble on as usual, and harder still for the young one to listen to praises of the last year's success, which to him now seemed like love's labor lost.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He plunged into the swimming tank or went hunting with the Judge’s sons; he escorted Mollie and Alice, the Judge’s daughters, on long twilight or early morning rambles; on wintry nights he lay at the Judge’s feet before the roaring library fire; he carried the Judge’s grandsons on his back, or rolled them in the grass, and guarded their footsteps through wild adventures down to the fountain in the stable yard, and even beyond, where the paddocks were, and the berry patches.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

More than once did Elizabeth, in her ramble within the park, unexpectedly meet Mr. Darcy.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

For two hours we rambled about together, in silence for the most part, as befits two men who know each other intimately.

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

I, their eldest child, was born at Naples, and as an infant accompanied them in their rambles.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“This lengthened absence, these solitary rambles, did not speak a mind at ease, or a conscience void of reproach.”

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)