perambulator

English

Etymology

From perambulate +‎ -or.

Noun

perambulator (plural perambulators)

1. (UK, Ireland, dated) A baby carriage.

   Synonym: pram

   • 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     The reapers were slowly trooping back to their work. The nurse-girl slapped one of her charges and then began to push the perambulator up the hill.

   • 1919, P. G. Wodehouse, My Man Jeeves:

     "That will be all this afternoon," he said to the nurse, who got up with the baby and decanted it into a perambulator which was standing in the fairway.

   • 2023 October 18, Dr David Turner, “Family values...”, in RAIL, number 994, page 46:

     On Queen Victoria buying numerous perambulators in 1846, their popularity soared, especially among the affluent in society. Faced with carrying growing numbers of them, railways began charging separately for their carriage from the late 1850s. […] Perambulator tickets remained until the late 20th century, although they came to be seen as a restriction on family travel.

2. One who perambulates.
3. A surveyor's instrument for measuring distances, consisting of a wheel that rolls over the ground, along with a clockwork apparatus and a dial plate upon which the distance travelled is shown by an index.

Related terms

• perambulate
• perambulation
• perambulatory

Translations

pram — see pram

Further reading

• perambulator on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “perambulator”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Latin

Verb

perambulātor

1. second/third-person singular future passive imperative of perambulō

References

• perambulator in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• perambulator in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016