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ambulatory - 9 dictionary results

am⋅bu⋅la⋅to⋅ry

[am-byuh-luh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] adjective, noun, plural -ries.
–adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or capable of walking: an ambulatory exploration of the countryside.
2. adapted for walking, as the limbs of many animals.
3. moving about or from place to place; not stationary: an ambulatory tribe.
4. Also, ambulant. Medicine/Medical.
a. not confined to bed; able or strong enough to walk: an ambulatory patient.
b. serving patients who are able to walk: an ambulatory care center.
5. Law. not fixed; alterable or revocable: ambulatory will.
–noun
6. Also called deambulatory. Architecture.
a. an aisle surrounding the end of the choir or chancel of a church.
b. the covered walk of a cloister.

Origin:
1615–25; < L ambulātōrius, equiv. to ambulā-, s. of ambulāre (see amble ) + -tōrius tory1


am⋅bu⋅la⋅to⋅ri⋅ly, adverb
am·bu·la·to·ry   (ām'byə-lə-tôr'ē, -tōr'ē)   
adj.  
  1. Of, relating to, or adapted for walking.
    1. Capable of walking; not bedridden: an ambulatory patient.
    2. Designed for or available to patients who are not bedridden: ambulatory care; ambulatory pediatrics.
  2. Moving about; itinerant.
  3. Law That can be changed or revoked, as a will during the life of the testator.
n.   pl. am·bu·la·to·ries
A covered place for walking, as in a cloister.
am'bu·la·to'ri·ly adv.

Ambulatory

Am"bu*la*to*ry\, a. [L. ambulatorius.]

1. Of or pertaining to walking; having the faculty of walking; formed or fitted for walking; as, an ambulatory animal.

2. Accustomed to move from place to place; not stationary; movable; as, an ambulatory court, which exercises its jurisdiction in different places.

The priesthood . . . before was very ambulatory, and dispersed into all families. --Jer. Taylor.

3. Pertaining to a walk. [R.]

The princess of whom his majesty had an ambulatory view in his travels. --Sir H. Wotton.

4. (Law) Not yet fixed legally, or settled past alteration; alterable; as, the dispositions of a will are ambulatory until the death of the testator.

Ambulatory

Am"bu*la*to*ry\, n.; pl. Ambulatories. [Cf. LL. ambulatorium.] (Arch.) A place to walk in, whether in the open air, as the gallery of a cloister, or within a building.

ambulatory 
"of or pertaining to walking" (1622); also "shifting, not permanent" (1621), from L. ambulatorius "of or pertaining to a walker," from ambulator, from ambulare (see amble).

Main Entry: am·bu·la·to·ry
Pronunciation: 'am-by&-l&-"tOr-E
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin ambulatorius, literally, movable, transferable, from ambulare to walk, move, be transferred
: capable of being altered ambulatory until the testator's death>

Main Entry: am·bu·la·to·ry
Pronunciation: 'am-by&-l&-"tOr-E, -"tor-
Function: adjective
1 : of, relating to, oradapted to walking <ambulatory exercise>
2 a : able to walk about and not bedridden ambulatory patient> b : performed on or involvingan ambulatory patient or an outpatient ambulatory electrocardiogram> <ambulatory medical care> —am·bu·la·to·ri·ly /"am-by&-l&-'tOr-&-lE, -'tor-/ adverb

ambulatory am·bu·la·to·ry (ām'byə-lə-tôr'ē)
adj.

  1. Of, relating to, or adapted for walking.
  2. Capable of walking; not bedridden.
  3. Moving about.

ambulatory

in architecture, continuation of the aisled spaces on either side of the nave (central part of the church) around the apse (semicircular projection at the east end of the church) or chancel (east end of the church where the main altar stands) to form a continuous processional way. The ambulatory often provided improved sites for the numerous altars for saints, which formerly were located along a crowded corridor behind the high altar; the altars are reached through circular arches piercing the curved outer wall of the ambulatory.

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