▪ I. ambulatory, a.
(ˈæmbjʊlətərɪ)
[ad. L. ambulātōri-us of or pertaining to a walker, f. ambulātor, q.v.; cf. Fr. ambulatoire.]
1. Of or pertaining to a walker, or to walking.
| 1622 Heylyn Cosmogr. iii. (1682) 129 Being at his ambulatory Exercise. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 83 The ambulatory life of herdsmen and shepherds. 1874 Helps Soc. Press. iv. 63 When that man has an object, it is astonishing what ambulatory powers he can develop. |
2. Adapted or fitted for walking.
| 1835 Kirby Habits & Inst. An. II. xvi. 84 The thoracic legs..become also its ambulatory legs. 1852 Dana Crustacea i. 10 Feet ambulatory or prehensile. 1877 W. Thomson Voy. Challenger I. ii. 133 Leaf-like sacs..which fringe the ambulatory disk. |
3. Moving from place to place, having no fixed abode; movable.
| 1622 Howell Lett. 5 Mar., His council of state went ambulatory always with him. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. Pref. ¶25 They served the ends of God..by their ambulatory life. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. Acts vii. 50 The tabernacle was an ambulatory temple. 1845 R. Hamilton Pop. Educ. 191 Many [schools] are ambulatory, and..are held only during four or five months in farm houses. 1858 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. Part. I. xxv. 96 While the ambulatory guillotine was doing its work in the provinces. |
4. fig. Shifting, not permanent, temporary, mutable. (So in L. and Fr.) ambulatory will: one capable of revocation.
| 1621–31 Laud Serm. (1847) 73 Nor is this ceremony Jewish or ambulatory, to cease with the law. 1651 W. G. Cowel's Instit. 133 A mans will..according to the Civill Law is ambulatory, or alterable, untill Death. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Fr. & It. II. 387 They learn to think virtue and vice ambulatory. 1832 J. Austin Jurispr. I. xxi. 452 Every intention..which regards the future is ambulatory or revocable. |
5. Path. and Med. = ambulant a. sense 3.
| 1857 Dunglison Med. Lex. s.v., A morbid affection is said to be ‘ambulatory’..when it skips from one part to another. 1882 Quain Dict. Med. I. 38/1 Ambulatory, a term given to typhoid fever, showing that the patient is able to walk about during the attack. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 21 Feb. 6/1 That the cause of death was ambulatory typhoid. 1947 L. K. Ferguson Surg. Ambulatory Patient (ed. 2) p. ix, Surgery of the ambulatory patient is the surgery performed more often by the younger men and general practitioners. Ibid. i. 1 (heading) A survey of the field of ambulatory surgery. |
Add: [5.] b. Of places or apparatus: intended or suitable for ambulant patients.
| 1890 Billings Med. Dict. I. 47/1 Ambulatory clinic, clinic for persons able to walk about; a dispensary. 1973 Sci. Amer. Sept. 29/3 The vast bulk of care is provided by physicians in ambulatory settings. 1978 B. Pym Very Private Eye (1984) 317 Had an ambulatory electro-cardiogram attached to me for 24 hours. 1981 Times 1 Dec. 15/7 The Tracker ambulatory recorder uses a standard C-90 tape cassette running at slow speeds to record a continuous electrocardiograph. 1990 Brain CXIII. 1584 Subcutaneous administration of apomorphine by ambulatory minipump. |
▪ II. ambulatory, n.
(ˈæmbjʊlətərɪ)
[ad. med.L. ambulātōrium a place for walking; f. ambulā-re: see ambulate and -ory.]
A place for walking in; especially, a covered way; an arcade, a cloister.
| 1623 Cockeram, Ambulatorie, A place to walke in. 1659 P. Heylin in Biblioth. Reg. 258 A stately portico..raised on Corinthian pillars to serve for an Ambulatory, or common gallery. 1759 Martin Nat. Hist. I. 253 Ambulatories within the Change. 1812 W. Taylor in Month. Rev. LXVII. 295 Sheltered Ambulatories for wet weather are too rare in London. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) IX. xiv. viii. 281 Its succursal aisles and ambulatories and chapels. 1870 F. Wilson Ch. of Lindisf. 52 Open seats on either side of a central ambulatory. |