deˈambulatory, a. and n.
[ad. L. deambulātōri-us fit for walking in, etc., whence -ātōrium n., place to walk in.]
A. adj. Moving about from place to place; movable, shifting.
| 1607 Cowell Interpr. s.v. Eschequer, In Scotland the Eschequer was stable, but the other session was deambulatorie. a 1633 S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. ii. iii. §3 (1670) 238 In it self unequal, wavering, deambulatory. a 1659 Bp. Morton Episc. Justified 142 The deambulatory actors used to have their quietus est. |
B. n. A place to walk in for exercise; esp. a covered walk or cloister.
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xi, Fresche alures..That called were deambulatoryes, Men to walke to geder twayne & twayne, To kepe them drye when it dyde rayne. 1447 Will Hen. VI in T. J. Carter King's Coll. Chapel 13 Of the which [cloistre square] the deambulatorie xiiij fete wide. 1834 Gentl. Mag. CIV. i. 55 An inscription in a Roman garden informed the walker, that when he had made five turns of the deambulatory he had completed a mile. |