ramblingn.

Brit.

/ˈramblɪŋ/,

/ˈrambl̩ɪŋ/, U.S.

/ˈræmb(ə)lɪŋ/

Forms: see ramble v. and -ing suffix¹.

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: ramble v., -ing suffix¹.

Etymology: < ramble v. + -ing suffix¹.

The action of ramble v.; an instance of this. Also in plural: incoherent talk or writings.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering

wandering1362

roamingc1390

roving?1520

error1594

rangling1594

wanderment1597

rambling1622

rolling1624

vagancy1641

roverya1653

pervagation1656

oberration1658

vagrancya1677

stravaiging1825

scamander1873

outwandering1880

society > travel > aspects of travel > going on foot > [noun] > walking for exercise or recreation > hiking or rambling

rambling1745

tramping1863

hiking1901

wandervogeling1924

the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > delirium or raving

wood dreameOE

mazec1300

paraphrenesisa1398

ravinga1398

deliramentc1450

idleness1535

delirium1563

randing1583

calenture1593

deliration1598

taveringa1599

ravery1599

delirement1613

debacchation1633

delirancy1645

deliry1657

deliriousness1671

paraphrenitis1683

paraphrosyne1684

deliracy1689

delirousness1694

paracope1749

paraphora1749

wandering1836

paralerema1848

paraleresis1857

paraphronesis1857

rambling1897

1622 G. Wither Faire-virtue sig. O4^v Harke, how the Wagges, abrode doe call Each other foorth to rambling.

a1640 P. Massinger Parl. of Love (1976) v. i. 321 For this gallant, I doe confesse I coold him, spoyld his ramblinge.

1640 W. Style tr. L. Gracian Dantisco Galateo Espagnol 126 Hee..ought to provide, that hee doe not often repeate the same words,..(which is that which is called rambling).

a1704 T. Brown 1st Satyr Persius Imitated in Wks. (1707) I. i. 79 When such wild Ramblings got him some poor Fame.

1745 R. Pococke Descr. East II. ii. iii. 277 Rambling makes little alteration in the mind, unless proper care be taken to improve it.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Miller's Daughter (rev. ed.) in Poems (new ed.) I. 107 Oft in ramblings on the wold,..I saw the village lights below.

1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. II. 543 Rambling of the mind and delirium.

1956 A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes ii. ii. 280 Yet, in and out of her ramblings, came clear threads of memory.

1990 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 18 Nov. 50/2 Walking, or rambling as it is quaintly dubbed, has long been a favored English pastime, but it has also become a big and sometimes violent business.

Compounds

General attributive as rambling excursion, rambling club, rambling day, etc.

ΚΠ

1635 F. Quarles Emblemes ii. xiii. 114 Farewell my vaine, farewell my loose delights; Farewell my rambling dayes; my rev'ling nights.

1673 W. Wycherley Gentleman Dancing-master i. i To confine a Woman just in her rambling Age! Take away her liberty at the very time she shou'd use it!

1701 T. Brown Life J. Hayns 4 Naturally he believed him of a rambling constitution.

1797 ‘Gabrielli’ Mysterious Wife III. xiv. 261 This had been one of her Lord and master's rambling days.

1864 L. M. Alcott Moods vi. 103 Mark and these friends of his keep you in constant motion with their riding, rowing, and rambling excursions.

1896 Times 31 July 10/4 The scheme comprised the establishment of various branches, one being a depot of recreation, including athletics, rambling societies, and holiday excursions.

1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 682/2 Sketching clubs and rambling clubs are formed among young people.

1974 Country Life 7 Mar. 471/3 Many rambling clubs..[are] printing on their club programmes that dogs must be kept on a lead on farm land.

1985 S. Lowry Young Fogey Handbk. i. 16 Geoffrey Wheatcroft..is rambling correspondent of the Field.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

ramblingadj.

Brit.

/ˈramblɪŋ/,

/ˈrambl̩ɪŋ/, U.S.

/ˈræmb(ə)lɪŋ/

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: ramble v., -ing suffix².

Etymology: < ramble v. + -ing suffix².

a. Of a person or thing: that rambles; wandering, moving about, or straying from one place to another; roving.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > change of direction of movement > [adjective] > moving without fixed course

vaganta1382

scatteringc1450

stragglinga1560

wandering1590

undirecteda1599

wayless1605

planetary1607

rambling?1609

exorbitant1613

exorbitating1632

random1655

unconducteda1677

devious1735

truant1791

wild1810

erratic1841

directionless1860

scrolloping1923

society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [adjective] > with no fixed aim or wandering

wanderingc1000

erringa1340

waggeringa1382

vagant1382

vagabond1426

erroneousa1464

fugitive1481

wavering1487

vagrantc1522

gadding1545

roaming1566

roving1576

straggling1589

rambling?1609

wagand1614

wheelinga1616

gadling1616

vagring1619

erratical1620

vaguing1627

erratic1656

planetical1656

waif1724

vagrarious1795

stravaiging1825

vagarious1882

pirooting1958

?1609 J. Healey tr. Bp. J. Hall Discouery New World vi. 82 I was a spectator of their more then rambling reuells.

1624 P. Massinger Bond-man ii. i. sig. D2 Your rambling hunt-smocke, feeles strange alterations.

a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) iii. 48 How these moveable & rambling Atomes come to place themselves so orderly in the Universe.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 129. ¶1 Hunting about the whole Town after a rambling Fellow.

1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xvi. 77 A kind of rambling Rheumatism.

a1822 P. B. Shelley Cyclops in Posthumous Poems (1824) 331 Get along, you horned thing, Wild, seditious, rambling.

1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It xxvi. 195 Our mountains are full of rambling prospectors.

1927 P. S. Dinneen Irish-Eng. Dict. (ed. 2) 879/1 Rásach, -aighe, -acha, f., a rambling woman, a gipsy, a jilt.

1991 Athlon's Pro Football 67/3 The blocking line, which remained amazingly healthy last season..allowed 44 sacks, but most of them were caused by rambling quarterbacks.

b. Of life, etc.: characterized by wandering.

ΚΠ

1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 243 In the carriage and course of my rambling life, I had occasion to be as the Dutchman saith, a Landloper.

1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. Pref. sig. A3 My first Entrance upon this Rambling kind of Life.

1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 19 May (1965) I. 412 I..am on the point of removing; such is my rambling Destiny.

1787 W. Cowper Stanzas Yearly Bill Mortality i All these, life's rambling journey done, Have found their home, the grave.

1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xvi. 159 It must have been of great service to you, in the course of your rambling life, Sam.

1887 Dict. National Biogr. XI. 5/1 In the course of a rambling life which he afterwards led he became a dipper or anabaptist.

1911 Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft 13 118 A restless soul, who led a rambling life.

1963 Independent (Long Beach, Calif.) 4 July a2/5 He stayed with the family until it broke up and then began a rambling life of his own.

2002 N. Drury Dict. Esoteric (2004) 212/2 A vision from the heavens transformed him into a raving lunatic who thereafter lived a rambling existence in the forests of the Scottish lowlands.

a. Of speech, writing, etc.: unstructured, aimless, incoherent; straying from one subject to another.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [adjective] > disconnected

unjointed1588

disjointed1593

checkie-wise1603

rambling1632

loose1638

unconnexed1716

disconnected1777

snipped1806

dot and go one1818

spasmodic1832

spotty1843

snippety1864

rantipole1866

splathering1929

1632 J. Vicars tr. Virgil XII Aeneids xii. 385 She mixt her self amidst the thickest wings, And craftily acquainted with all things, Spread rambling rumours 'mongst them all.

1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 47 It may seem a rambling wild speech at first view.

1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) Introd. 17 A Man of much rambling Learning.

1713 R. Steele Guardian No. 34. ⁋1 The conversation..was so very rambling that it is hard to say what was talked of.

1761 F. Sheridan Mem. Miss Sidney Bidulph I. 325 Tell her as much of this wild story as you think proper; but do not let her see it in my wild rambling language.

1837 B. Disraeli Venetia I. 108 A long rambling ghost story.

1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton viii. 120 Rambling reminiscences of theatres.

1943 A. MacLeish Let. 10 Sept. (1983) 317 I won't ask you to undergo the boredom of reading them, but you can take it from me that they are obscene, rambling, spiteful, and altogether foolish.

1995 Daily Mail 2 Jan. 65/1 Many make the fatal mistake of having a rambling CV but you will never hold a personnel officer's attention for more than two pages.

b. Of the thoughts, the mind, etc.: straying from one subject to another; unsettled, incoherent.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > inattention > mental wandering > [adjective] > of thoughts: wandering

vagant1530

wandering1530

rambling1635

ramble-headeda1761

the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [adjective] > delirious or raving

wedingc725

lighta1500

light-headeda1500

ravinga1525

raving mad1541

frenetical1548

idle1548

delirant1600

deliring1600

frenetic1609

phrenitic1649

delirous1656

delirious1670

deliriate1689

rambling1700

straggle-brained1725

allochoos1811

ravers1938

1635 F. Quarles Emblemes iv. xii. 229 What unwonted way Has scap'd the ransack of my rambling thoughts?

1700 J. Astry tr. D. de Saavedra Fajardo Royal Politician II. 194 Those Means which their rambling and unquiet Minds prompt 'em to.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 2 My Head began to be fill'd very early with rambling Thoughts.

1782 J. H. St. J. de Crèvecoeur Lett. from Amer. Farmer xii. 222 These vague rambling contemplations which I here faithfully retrace, carry me sometimes to a great distance.

a1839 W. M. Praed Poems (1864) II. 14 An opiate for a rambling head.

1881 Cent. Mag. Nov. 125/2 They [sc. the readers] will render the agony less painful by forgiving the writer for having thus wearied them with the expression of these rambling thoughts.

a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) I. xvi. 276 That night she lay awake... But instead of purposeless, rambling thoughts, she was trying definitely to plan a search for work.

1980 A. E. I. Falconar Gardens of Medit. iii. 28 There are several kinds of thoughts. Firstly there is purposive thought... More advanced is creative thought... There is also rambling thought in which the mind is not pressed to solve anything and merely rambles aimlessly.

2007 Washington Post (Nexis) 29 Apr. b3 These will be rambling thoughts so you will have to take them or leave them.

c. Of a person: that rambles; given to wandering in thought or discourse; given to speaking or writing incoherently or aimlessly.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > loquacity or talkativeness > [adjective] > waffling or rambling

rambling1693

waffling1698

maundering1850

wittering1886

waffly1964

1693 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. I. iii. 124 The usual Mistake of the rambling Poets.

1738 R. Hooker Weekly Misc. (ed. 2) II. lxxxviii. 349 He is but a rambling writer, and therefore I shall not follow him.

1774 J. Bryant New Syst. II. 365 Nonnus is a rambling writer and unacquainted with method.

1845 Amer. Whig Rev. Nov. 501/2 He was a loose and rambling writer, because he was an unconstrained and independent thinker.

1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 681 The patient became mildly demented, rambling in speech, and defective in memory.

1930 D. L. Sayers Strong Poison i. 23 The Duchess was even more rambling than usual, thought Freddy.

2004 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 12 Aug. 7/4 He was disorganized, unprepared, and rambling.

3. Of a plant: spreading, esp. by means of long flexible trailing stems, stolons, runners, etc.; scrambling. Also (of a root, branch, etc.): growing irregularly, straggling. Cf. rambler n. 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > [adjective] > climbing, spreading, or creeping

running1548

spreading1560

flat1578

ramping1578

wandering1590

upcreeping1611

gadding1638

rambling1653

obsequious1657

reptant1657

scansive1657

scansory1657

procumbent1668

repent1669

scandenta1682

supine1686

scrambling1688

creeping1697

sarmentous1721

reptile1727

sarmentose1760

prostrate1773

trailing1785

decumbent1789

travelling1822

vagrant1827

sarmentaceous1830

humifuse1854

sarmentiferous1858

amphibryous1866

humistratous1880

climbing1882

clambering1883

1653 R. Austen Treat. Fruit-trees 60 As concerning Arbors..I advise men to make them of Fruit-trees rather then of Privet, or other rambling stuffe, which yields no profit, but only for shade.

1728 J. Thomson Spring 40 O'er his brawny Back the rambling Sprays Luxuriant shoot.

1781 S. Fullmer Young Gardener's Best Compan. 253 Some sorts branch out in a rambling manner.., they should be trimmed to order, by cutting off the lower and most rambling branches.

1807 G. Crabbe Sir Eustace Grey in Poems 229 I've hung upon the ridgy Steep Of Cliffs, and held the rambling Brier.

1882 Garden 11 Feb. 93/1 One of the creeping or rambling species.

1916 J. W. Toumey Seeding & Planting xii. 237 The plants develop a rambling root system with few fibrous roots when the soil is poor or overlight.

1941 E. C. Jaeger Desert Wild Flowers 185 Rambling Milkweed. Funastrum hirtellum.

1996 New Idea June 59/1 With rambling roses, the easiest way to propagate is to layer.

4. Of a house, street, etc.: that has an irregular straggling form or plan; sprawling.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > extension in space > [adjective] > spread out > spread out in straggling manner

scambling1592

rambling1676

sprawling1802

sprangly1840

sprawly1897

the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [adjective] > irregular in shape

uneven1398

bastard1418

raggedc1450

odd1508

unruled1551

irregular1584

inordinate1667

rambling1676

odd-shaped1704

bizarre1824

scrawled1895

raggedy1896

scrawly1901

free-form1942

1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode v. ii A great rambling lone house, that looks as it were not inhabited.

1697 tr. L. D. Le Comte Mem. Journey China Pref. This same Louvre of a Palace is neither better nor worse than a rambling ill contriv'd wooden Building.

c1702 C. Fiennes Journeys (1947) 152 There are no good houses but what are old rambling ones [in Bury St Edmunds].

1790 Loiterer 2 Jan. 10 C—— Castle is a wretched, irregular, heavy, and rambling pile of building.

1816 J. Austen Emma III. vi. 93 The house was..rambling and irregular.

1871 U. Hawthorne in Passages from French & Ital. Note-bks. of Nathaniel Hawthorne I. 19 This narrow, crowded, and rambling street.

1891 ‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley i. 2 A rambling old farm-house standing rather high..; it's just, in fact, a picturesque shanty.

1934 G. Greene It's a Battlefield v. 272 He was coming to the end of the long and rambling road.

1992 Oldie 21 Feb. 22/2 The 16th-century part of the house is rambling and small-roomed.

Derivatives

ˈramblingness n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [noun] > irregularity of shape

irregularity1646

in and-outness1824

in-and-outishness1833

ramblingness1835

in and-outism1836

scrawliness1867

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > copiousness > [noun] > prolixity

prolixityc1395

tediouste?a1412

diffusiona1413

diffuseness1474

tediousness?a1475

largeness1547

longness1587

prolixness?1590

length1597

longanimity1607

tediositya1625

wire-drawing1640

longinquity1641

long-windedness1648

diffusivenessa1719

sprawling1822

longsomeness1834

ramblingness1835

lengthsomeness1849

bagginess1860

lengthiness1863

governmentese1907

1835 G. P. R. James Gipsy I. vi. 163 Mrs. Falkland's house had a certain ramblingness of construction.

1890 Sat. Rev. 7 June 690/1 A general ramblingness, so to speak, which used to be characteristic of the female intellect.

1963 A. B. Garrett Flash of Genius i. xvii. 70 The ramblingness of his notes is indicative of the frustration and incubation periods of a creative mind at work attempting to put this puzzle together and give birth to an idea.

2001 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 27 Aug. 26 I've always felt that that's the way to do comedy. There's a seeming rambling-ness, and a genuine sense of no one knowing what's going to happen next.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	rambling
释义	ramblingn. Brit. /ˈramblɪŋ/, /ˈrambl̩ɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈræmb(ə)lɪŋ/ Forms: see ramble v. and -ing suffix¹. Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: ramble v., -ing suffix¹. Etymology: < ramble v. + -ing suffix¹. The action of ramble v.; an instance of this. Also in plural: incoherent talk or writings. ΘΚΠ society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering wandering1362 roamingc1390 roving?1520 error1594 rangling1594 wanderment1597 rambling1622 rolling1624 vagancy1641 roverya1653 pervagation1656 oberration1658 vagrancya1677 stravaiging1825 scamander1873 outwandering1880 society > travel > aspects of travel > going on foot > [noun] > walking for exercise or recreation > hiking or rambling rambling1745 tramping1863 hiking1901 wandervogeling1924 the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > delirium or raving wood dreameOE mazec1300 paraphrenesisa1398 ravinga1398 deliramentc1450 idleness1535 delirium1563 randing1583 calenture1593 deliration1598 taveringa1599 ravery1599 delirement1613 debacchation1633 delirancy1645 deliry1657 deliriousness1671 paraphrenitis1683 paraphrosyne1684 deliracy1689 delirousness1694 paracope1749 paraphora1749 wandering1836 paralerema1848 paraleresis1857 paraphronesis1857 rambling1897 1622 G. Wither Faire-virtue sig. O4^v Harke, how the Wagges, abrode doe call Each other foorth to rambling. a1640 P. Massinger Parl. of Love (1976) v. i. 321 For this gallant, I doe confesse I coold him, spoyld his ramblinge. 1640 W. Style tr. L. Gracian Dantisco Galateo Espagnol 126 Hee..ought to provide, that hee doe not often repeate the same words,..(which is that which is called rambling). a1704 T. Brown 1st Satyr Persius Imitated in Wks. (1707) I. i. 79 When such wild Ramblings got him some poor Fame. 1745 R. Pococke Descr. East II. ii. iii. 277 Rambling makes little alteration in the mind, unless proper care be taken to improve it. 1842 Ld. Tennyson Miller's Daughter (rev. ed.) in Poems (new ed.) I. 107 Oft in ramblings on the wold,..I saw the village lights below. 1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. II. 543 Rambling of the mind and delirium. 1956 A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes ii. ii. 280 Yet, in and out of her ramblings, came clear threads of memory. 1990 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 18 Nov. 50/2 Walking, or rambling as it is quaintly dubbed, has long been a favored English pastime, but it has also become a big and sometimes violent business. Compounds General attributive as rambling excursion, rambling club, rambling day, etc. ΚΠ 1635 F. Quarles Emblemes ii. xiii. 114 Farewell my vaine, farewell my loose delights; Farewell my rambling dayes; my rev'ling nights. 1673 W. Wycherley Gentleman Dancing-master i. i To confine a Woman just in her rambling Age! Take away her liberty at the very time she shou'd use it! 1701 T. Brown Life J. Hayns 4 Naturally he believed him of a rambling constitution. 1797 ‘Gabrielli’ Mysterious Wife III. xiv. 261 This had been one of her Lord and master's rambling days. 1864 L. M. Alcott Moods vi. 103 Mark and these friends of his keep you in constant motion with their riding, rowing, and rambling excursions. 1896 Times 31 July 10/4 The scheme comprised the establishment of various branches, one being a depot of recreation, including athletics, rambling societies, and holiday excursions. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 682/2 Sketching clubs and rambling clubs are formed among young people. 1974 Country Life 7 Mar. 471/3 Many rambling clubs..[are] printing on their club programmes that dogs must be kept on a lead on farm land. 1985 S. Lowry Young Fogey Handbk. i. 16 Geoffrey Wheatcroft..is rambling correspondent of the Field. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022). ramblingadj. Brit. /ˈramblɪŋ/, /ˈrambl̩ɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈræmb(ə)lɪŋ/ Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: ramble v., -ing suffix². Etymology: < ramble v. + -ing suffix². 1. a. Of a person or thing: that rambles; wandering, moving about, or straying from one place to another; roving. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > change of direction of movement > [adjective] > moving without fixed course vaganta1382 scatteringc1450 stragglinga1560 wandering1590 undirecteda1599 wayless1605 planetary1607 rambling?1609 exorbitant1613 exorbitating1632 random1655 unconducteda1677 devious1735 truant1791 wild1810 erratic1841 directionless1860 scrolloping1923 society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [adjective] > with no fixed aim or wandering wanderingc1000 erringa1340 waggeringa1382 vagant1382 vagabond1426 erroneousa1464 fugitive1481 wavering1487 vagrantc1522 gadding1545 roaming1566 roving1576 straggling1589 rambling?1609 wagand1614 wheelinga1616 gadling1616 vagring1619 erratical1620 vaguing1627 erratic1656 planetical1656 waif1724 vagrarious1795 stravaiging1825 vagarious1882 pirooting1958 ?1609 J. Healey tr. Bp. J. Hall Discouery New World vi. 82 I was a spectator of their more then rambling reuells. 1624 P. Massinger Bond-man ii. i. sig. D2 Your rambling hunt-smocke, feeles strange alterations. a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) iii. 48 How these moveable & rambling Atomes come to place themselves so orderly in the Universe. 1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 129. ¶1 Hunting about the whole Town after a rambling Fellow. 1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xvi. 77 A kind of rambling Rheumatism. a1822 P. B. Shelley Cyclops in Posthumous Poems (1824) 331 Get along, you horned thing, Wild, seditious, rambling. 1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It xxvi. 195 Our mountains are full of rambling prospectors. 1927 P. S. Dinneen Irish-Eng. Dict. (ed. 2) 879/1 Rásach, -aighe, -acha, f., a rambling woman, a gipsy, a jilt. 1991 Athlon's Pro Football 67/3 The blocking line, which remained amazingly healthy last season..allowed 44 sacks, but most of them were caused by rambling quarterbacks. b. Of life, etc.: characterized by wandering. ΚΠ 1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 243 In the carriage and course of my rambling life, I had occasion to be as the Dutchman saith, a Landloper. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. Pref. sig. A3 My first Entrance upon this Rambling kind of Life. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 19 May (1965) I. 412 I..am on the point of removing; such is my rambling Destiny. 1787 W. Cowper Stanzas Yearly Bill Mortality i All these, life's rambling journey done, Have found their home, the grave. 1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xvi. 159 It must have been of great service to you, in the course of your rambling life, Sam. 1887 Dict. National Biogr. XI. 5/1 In the course of a rambling life which he afterwards led he became a dipper or anabaptist. 1911 Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft 13 118 A restless soul, who led a rambling life. 1963 Independent (Long Beach, Calif.) 4 July a2/5 He stayed with the family until it broke up and then began a rambling life of his own. 2002 N. Drury Dict. Esoteric (2004) 212/2 A vision from the heavens transformed him into a raving lunatic who thereafter lived a rambling existence in the forests of the Scottish lowlands. 2. a. Of speech, writing, etc.: unstructured, aimless, incoherent; straying from one subject to another. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [adjective] > disconnected unjointed1588 disjointed1593 checkie-wise1603 rambling1632 loose1638 unconnexed1716 disconnected1777 snipped1806 dot and go one1818 spasmodic1832 spotty1843 snippety1864 rantipole1866 splathering1929 1632 J. Vicars tr. Virgil XII Aeneids xii. 385 She mixt her self amidst the thickest wings, And craftily acquainted with all things, Spread rambling rumours 'mongst them all. 1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 47 It may seem a rambling wild speech at first view. 1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) Introd. 17 A Man of much rambling Learning. 1713 R. Steele Guardian No. 34. ⁋1 The conversation..was so very rambling that it is hard to say what was talked of. 1761 F. Sheridan Mem. Miss Sidney Bidulph I. 325 Tell her as much of this wild story as you think proper; but do not let her see it in my wild rambling language. 1837 B. Disraeli Venetia I. 108 A long rambling ghost story. 1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton viii. 120 Rambling reminiscences of theatres. 1943 A. MacLeish Let. 10 Sept. (1983) 317 I won't ask you to undergo the boredom of reading them, but you can take it from me that they are obscene, rambling, spiteful, and altogether foolish. 1995 Daily Mail 2 Jan. 65/1 Many make the fatal mistake of having a rambling CV but you will never hold a personnel officer's attention for more than two pages. b. Of the thoughts, the mind, etc.: straying from one subject to another; unsettled, incoherent. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > inattention > mental wandering > [adjective] > of thoughts: wandering vagant1530 wandering1530 rambling1635 ramble-headeda1761 the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [adjective] > delirious or raving wedingc725 lighta1500 light-headeda1500 ravinga1525 raving mad1541 frenetical1548 idle1548 delirant1600 deliring1600 frenetic1609 phrenitic1649 delirous1656 delirious1670 deliriate1689 rambling1700 straggle-brained1725 allochoos1811 ravers1938 1635 F. Quarles Emblemes iv. xii. 229 What unwonted way Has scap'd the ransack of my rambling thoughts? 1700 J. Astry tr. D. de Saavedra Fajardo Royal Politician II. 194 Those Means which their rambling and unquiet Minds prompt 'em to. 1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 2 My Head began to be fill'd very early with rambling Thoughts. 1782 J. H. St. J. de Crèvecoeur Lett. from Amer. Farmer xii. 222 These vague rambling contemplations which I here faithfully retrace, carry me sometimes to a great distance. a1839 W. M. Praed Poems (1864) II. 14 An opiate for a rambling head. 1881 Cent. Mag. Nov. 125/2 They [sc. the readers] will render the agony less painful by forgiving the writer for having thus wearied them with the expression of these rambling thoughts. a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) I. xvi. 276 That night she lay awake... But instead of purposeless, rambling thoughts, she was trying definitely to plan a search for work. 1980 A. E. I. Falconar Gardens of Medit. iii. 28 There are several kinds of thoughts. Firstly there is purposive thought... More advanced is creative thought... There is also rambling thought in which the mind is not pressed to solve anything and merely rambles aimlessly. 2007 Washington Post (Nexis) 29 Apr. b3 These will be rambling thoughts so you will have to take them or leave them. c. Of a person: that rambles; given to wandering in thought or discourse; given to speaking or writing incoherently or aimlessly. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > loquacity or talkativeness > [adjective] > waffling or rambling rambling1693 waffling1698 maundering1850 wittering1886 waffly1964 1693 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. I. iii. 124 The usual Mistake of the rambling Poets. 1738 R. Hooker Weekly Misc. (ed. 2) II. lxxxviii. 349 He is but a rambling writer, and therefore I shall not follow him. 1774 J. Bryant New Syst. II. 365 Nonnus is a rambling writer and unacquainted with method. 1845 Amer. Whig Rev. Nov. 501/2 He was a loose and rambling writer, because he was an unconstrained and independent thinker. 1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 681 The patient became mildly demented, rambling in speech, and defective in memory. 1930 D. L. Sayers Strong Poison i. 23 The Duchess was even more rambling than usual, thought Freddy. 2004 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 12 Aug. 7/4 He was disorganized, unprepared, and rambling. 3. Of a plant: spreading, esp. by means of long flexible trailing stems, stolons, runners, etc.; scrambling. Also (of a root, branch, etc.): growing irregularly, straggling. Cf. rambler n. 2. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > [adjective] > climbing, spreading, or creeping running1548 spreading1560 flat1578 ramping1578 wandering1590 upcreeping1611 gadding1638 rambling1653 obsequious1657 reptant1657 scansive1657 scansory1657 procumbent1668 repent1669 scandenta1682 supine1686 scrambling1688 creeping1697 sarmentous1721 reptile1727 sarmentose1760 prostrate1773 trailing1785 decumbent1789 travelling1822 vagrant1827 sarmentaceous1830 humifuse1854 sarmentiferous1858 amphibryous1866 humistratous1880 climbing1882 clambering1883 1653 R. Austen Treat. Fruit-trees 60 As concerning Arbors..I advise men to make them of Fruit-trees rather then of Privet, or other rambling stuffe, which yields no profit, but only for shade. 1728 J. Thomson Spring 40 O'er his brawny Back the rambling Sprays Luxuriant shoot. 1781 S. Fullmer Young Gardener's Best Compan. 253 Some sorts branch out in a rambling manner.., they should be trimmed to order, by cutting off the lower and most rambling branches. 1807 G. Crabbe Sir Eustace Grey in Poems 229 I've hung upon the ridgy Steep Of Cliffs, and held the rambling Brier. 1882 Garden 11 Feb. 93/1 One of the creeping or rambling species. 1916 J. W. Toumey Seeding & Planting xii. 237 The plants develop a rambling root system with few fibrous roots when the soil is poor or overlight. 1941 E. C. Jaeger Desert Wild Flowers 185 Rambling Milkweed. Funastrum hirtellum. 1996 New Idea June 59/1 With rambling roses, the easiest way to propagate is to layer. 4. Of a house, street, etc.: that has an irregular straggling form or plan; sprawling. ΘΚΠ the world > space > extension in space > [adjective] > spread out > spread out in straggling manner scambling1592 rambling1676 sprawling1802 sprangly1840 sprawly1897 the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [adjective] > irregular in shape uneven1398 bastard1418 raggedc1450 odd1508 unruled1551 irregular1584 inordinate1667 rambling1676 odd-shaped1704 bizarre1824 scrawled1895 raggedy1896 scrawly1901 free-form1942 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode v. ii A great rambling lone house, that looks as it were not inhabited. 1697 tr. L. D. Le Comte Mem. Journey China Pref. This same Louvre of a Palace is neither better nor worse than a rambling ill contriv'd wooden Building. c1702 C. Fiennes Journeys (1947) 152 There are no good houses but what are old rambling ones [in Bury St Edmunds]. 1790 Loiterer 2 Jan. 10 C—— Castle is a wretched, irregular, heavy, and rambling pile of building. 1816 J. Austen Emma III. vi. 93 The house was..rambling and irregular. View more context for this quotation 1871 U. Hawthorne in Passages from French & Ital. Note-bks. of Nathaniel Hawthorne I. 19 This narrow, crowded, and rambling street. 1891 ‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley i. 2 A rambling old farm-house standing rather high..; it's just, in fact, a picturesque shanty. 1934 G. Greene It's a Battlefield v. 272 He was coming to the end of the long and rambling road. 1992 Oldie 21 Feb. 22/2 The 16th-century part of the house is rambling and small-roomed. Derivatives ˈramblingness n. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [noun] > irregularity of shape irregularity1646 in and-outness1824 in-and-outishness1833 ramblingness1835 in and-outism1836 scrawliness1867 society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > copiousness > [noun] > prolixity prolixityc1395 tediouste?a1412 diffusiona1413 diffuseness1474 tediousness?a1475 largeness1547 longness1587 prolixness?1590 length1597 longanimity1607 tediositya1625 wire-drawing1640 longinquity1641 long-windedness1648 diffusivenessa1719 sprawling1822 longsomeness1834 ramblingness1835 lengthsomeness1849 bagginess1860 lengthiness1863 governmentese1907 1835 G. P. R. James Gipsy I. vi. 163 Mrs. Falkland's house had a certain ramblingness of construction. 1890 Sat. Rev. 7 June 690/1 A general ramblingness, so to speak, which used to be characteristic of the female intellect. 1963 A. B. Garrett Flash of Genius i. xvii. 70 The ramblingness of his notes is indicative of the frustration and incubation periods of a creative mind at work attempting to put this puzzle together and give birth to an idea. 2001 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 27 Aug. 26 I've always felt that that's the way to do comedy. There's a seeming rambling-ness, and a genuine sense of no one knowing what's going to happen next. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.1622adj.?1609
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