ambulatory
- of, relating to, or capable of walking: an ambulatory exploration of the countryside.
- adapted for walking, as the limbs of many animals.
- moving about or from place to place; not stationary: an ambulatory tribe.
- Also ambulant. Medicine/Medical.
- not confined to bed; able or strong enough to walk: an ambulatory patient.
- serving patients who are able to walk: an ambulatory care center.
- Law. not fixed; alterable or revocable: ambulatory will.
- Also called deambulatory. Architecture.
- an aisle surrounding the end of the choir or chancel of a church.
- the covered walk of a cloister.
Origin of ambulatory
Examples from the Web for ambulatory
Contemporary Examples of ambulatory
The firefighters did not want the ambulatory passengers to chance onto an electrified rail or encounter some other hazard.
Piscitelli found out just how bad it had been when he counted the number of ambulatory survivors who came back with the dawn.
If it's dead, it's undead, like the culture at large: ambulatory in the age of Twilight.
Must-Read Books by Will Hermes, Lydia Millet, and Stuart NadlerNicholas Mancusi, Drew Toal, John Reed
November 28, 2011
Historical Examples of ambulatory
He had met her by chance in the ambulatory on her way from Brother Bonaday's rooms.
Brother CopasSir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
The poet is greater than man: he is nature on two legs,—ambulatory.
How Spring Came in New EnglandCharles Dudley Warner
It consists of a choir and ambulatory, transepts, and three bays of a nave.
The Story of BrusselsErnest Gilliat-Smith
There is a central apse, an ambulatory, out of which radiate five chapels.
The Cathedrals of Great BritainP. H. Ditchfield
He is said to have introduced into Normandy the ambulatory and its radiating chapels.
How France Built Her CathedralsElizabeth Boyle O'Reilly
ambulatory
- of, relating to, or designed for walking
- changing position; not fixed
- Also: ambulant able to walk
- law (esp of a will) capable of being altered or revoked
- architect
- an aisle running around the east end of a church, esp one that passes behind the sanctuary
- a place for walking, such as an aisle or a cloister
Word Origin and History for ambulatory
"pertaining to walking;" also "shifting, not permanent," 1620s, from Latin ambulatorius "of or pertaining to a walker; movable," from ambulator, agent noun from past participle stem of ambulare "to walk" (see amble). Middle English had ambulary "movable" (mid-15c.).
from Medieval Latin ambulatorium, from Latin ambulatorius "movable," from ambulare (see amble).
ambulatory
(ăm′byə-lə-tôr′ē)- Of, relating to, or adapted for walking.
- Capable of walking; not bedridden.
- Moving about.
- Of or relating to medical care or services provided on an outpatient basis.