roam
verb
move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
- “The gypsies roamed the woods”
- “roving vagabonds”
- “the wandering Jew”
- “The cattle roam across the prairie”
- “the laborers drift from one town to the next”
- “They rolled from town to town”
Origin
From Middle English romen, from Old English rāmian, from Proto-Germanic *raimōną (“to wander”), from *raim- (“to move, raise”), from *h₃reyH- (“to move, lift, flow”). Akin to Old English ārǣman (“to arise, stand up, lift up”), Old High German rāmēn (“to aim”) ( > archaic German rahmen (“to strive”)), Middle Dutch rammen (“to night-wander, to copulate”), rammelen (“to wander about, ramble”). More at ramble.
Phrases
- free roam
- freedom to roam
- right to roam
- roaming eye
- roaming master
Related words
Word family
Broader terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.