ramblingn.
/ˈramblɪŋ/, /ˈrambl̩ɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈræmb(ə)lɪŋ/ 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. O4v 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.
/ˈramblɪŋ/, /ˈrambl̩ɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈræmb(ə)lɪŋ/ 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).
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n.1622adj.?1609