ramble

An altered form (with dissimilation of mm to mb) of dialectal rammle, from Middle English *ramlen, *ramelen, frequentative of Middle English ramen (“to roam, ramble”); compare Swedish ramla (“to stumble; fall; make a noise; rumble”), Danish ramle (“to stumble; collapse; thunder; boom”); equivalent to roam +‎ -le.

"mid-15 c., perhaps frequentative of 'romen' 'to walk, go' perhaps via 'romblen' (late 14 c.) 'to ramble.' The vowel change perhaps by influence of Middle Dutch 'rammelen,' a derivative of 'rammen' 'copulate,' 'used of the night wanderings of the amorous cat.' Meaning 'to talk or write incoherently' is from 1630s".^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹæmbəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æmbəl

ramble (plural rambles)

1. A leisurely stroll; a recreational walk in the countryside.
   • 1811, Jane Austen, chapter 16, in Sense and Sensibility:

     Marianne was prevailed upon to join her sisters in their usual walk, instead of wandering away by herself. Hitherto she had carefully avoided every companion in her rambles. If her sisters intended to walk on the downs, she directly stole away towards the lanes; […]

   • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XI, page 138:

     The place was a favourite with all, and the ramble in this quarter was quite a regular custom of the afternoon with the fair heiress of Colonel Walton in particular.

2. A rambling; an instance of someone talking at length without direction.
3. (mining) A bed of shale over the seam of coal.^[2]
4. A section of woodland suitable for leisurely walking.
   • 1981 April 25, 10, “Growth Of A Gay Soccer League”, in Gay Community News, page 10:

     Someone proposed that we play in one of the small clearings in a gay crusing area in Central Park called the rambles.

ramble (third-person singular simple present rambles, present participle rambling, simple past and past participle rambled)

1. To move about aimlessly, or on a winding course.
2. To walk for pleasure; to amble or saunter.
3. To lead the life of a vagabond or itinerant; to move about with no fixed place of address.
   • 1994, Richard Thompson, “Beeswing”

     We was drinking more in those days and tempers reached a pitch

     And like a fool I let her run with the rambling itch

4. (often with on, about, or both) To talk or write incessantly, unclearly, or incoherently, with many digressions.

   Francine has a tendency to ramble when it gets to be late in the evening.

   She often rambles about bees' behavior, both in the hive and in the field.

   Usually I don't mind listening to her ramble on a bit; it can be soothing.

   Last night she was rambling on about horticultural methods, which was so soothing that I nodded off.

5. To follow a winding path or course.

   The river rambled through the mountains.

• (talk or write unclearly, or incoherently): drivel, sperg

• “ramble”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ramble”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “ramble”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Ambler, Balmer, Blamer, Marble, ambler, blamer, lamber, marble