Ramble just sounds like a cool word, and it really is; it’s
both verb and noun. Additionally, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, it
is of unknown etymological origin. Isn’t that neat? How many words do we really
have that don’t have a known origin? My guess would be not many. The definition
is that ramble as a verb means to wander or digress. It can also mean to
randomly think about things in no fixed manner. The other way it can be used is
a bit more frequent I think: roaming about, usually in company. This makes me
think a bit of a little puppy just going merrily around a field of flowers,
possibly being followed by a small child. As a noun, its meaning is quite
similar in that it means “an act of rambling” (oed.com) or “a wandering progress”
or a diversion.
Something really cool that OED shows is that there is an
obsolete or very rare usage meaning “rambling in thought or speech,
incoherence”. It’s interesting to me
that this is considered rare and/or obsolete, because this is the first meaning
that comes to mind when I think of the word “ramble”. I’ve said on any number
of occasions when I start talking a lot, “Ah, I don’t know why I’m rambling”.
Bear in mind I’m usually stationary while doing this, so it’s not as if I’m running
about the countryside.
What really constitutes a rare and/or obsolete
classification of a word entry? Keep checking back, as this could be a future
topic on the blog!
(260 words)
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