perambulator

American  

[per-am-byuh-ley-ter] / pərˈæm byəˌleɪ tər /

noun

1. Chiefly British: Older Use. a baby carriage; pram.

2. an odometer pushed by a person walking.

3. (formerly) a person who makes a tour of inspection on foot.

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perambulator British  

/ pəˈræmbjʊˌleɪtə /

noun

1. a formal word for pram 1

2. a wheel-like instrument used by surveyors to measure distances

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Etymology

Origin of perambulator

First recorded in 1605–15; 1850–55 perambulator for def. 1; from Medieval Latin “inspector, surveyor”; from Latin perambulāt-, past participle stem of perambulāre “to ramble, stroll”; perambulate, -or;

Explanation

A perambulator is an old-fashioned word for a baby carriage. You might see parents pushing perambulators through the park. The word perambulator isn't often used today — in Britain, people are more likely to call it a "pram," while in the U.S. these wheeled contraptions used for transporting babies are more commonly known as "strollers." An older meaning, and one still used today in a joking way, is "person who strolls around," or perambulates, from a root meaning "walk around," which is related to amble.

Example Sentences

He’s in the Charles Mingus tradition, a thumping perambulator, sometimes playing the instrument almost like a guimbri.

From New York Times • May 18, 2018

She beckons me over to look at a 19th-century perambulator, its fittings designed to resemble coiling snakes, the creatures that appear on the Duke of Devonshire’s family crest.

From The Guardian • Mar. 22, 2018

If he ever winds up testifying, we will have to wheel him in in a perambulator, so young and helpless will he have become.

From Washington Post • Jul. 13, 2017

As a solitary perambulator, Moreau has a singular magnetism.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 15, 2016

And she took the sausages and turned the perambulator round very quickly, and wheeled it out of the shop in such a way that the Butcher knew he had mortally offended her.

From "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers

Related Words

• hiker