ramble

An altered form (with dissimilation of mm to mb) of dialectal rammle, from Middle English *ramlen, *ramelen, frequentative of Middle English ramen (“to roam, ramble”); compare Old Swedish rambla (“to make a noise”), Danish ramle (“to stumble; collapse; thunder; boom”); equivalent to roam +‎ -le.

"mid-15 c., perhaps frequentative of 'romen' 'to walk, go' perhaps via 'romblen' (late 14 c.) 'to ramble.' The vowel change perhaps by influence of Middle Dutch 'rammelen,' a derivative of 'rammen' 'copulate,' 'used of the night wanderings of the amorous cat.' Meaning 'to talk or write incoherently' is from 1630s"[1].

• Rhymes: -æmbəl

ramble (plural rambles)

1. A leisurely stroll; a recreational walk in the countryside.
   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, chapter 16

     Marianne was prevailed upon to join her sisters in their usual walk, instead of wandering away by herself. Hitherto she had carefully avoided every companion in her rambles. If her sisters intended to walk on the downs, she directly stole away towards the lanes

   • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XI, page 138:

     The place was a favourite with all, and the ramble in this quarter was quite a regular custom of the afternoon with the fair heiress of Colonel Walton in particular.

2. A rambling; an instance of someone talking at length without direction.
3. (mining) A bed of shale over the seam of coal.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Raymond to this entry?)

4. A section of woodland suitable for leisurely walking.

ramble (third-person singular simple present rambles, present participle rambling, simple past and past participle rambled)

1. To move about aimlessly, or on a winding course
2. To walk for pleasure; to amble or saunter.
3. To talk or write incessantly, unclearly, or incoherently, with many digressions.

   Francine has a tendency to ramble when it gets to be late in the evening.

• (talk or write unclearly, or incoherently): drivel, sperg

• ramble in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• ramble in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• ramble at OneLook Dictionary Search

• Ambler, Balmer, Marble, ambler, blamer, lamber, marble