roam
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: rōm
ipa: /ɹəʊm/
enpr: rōm
ipa: /ɹoʊm/
homophone: Rome
rhymes: -əʊm
Forms: form: roams
form: roaming
form: roamed
form: roamed
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: Henceforth, wherever thou may’st roam,
⁠My blessing, like a line of light,
⁠Is on the waters day and night,
And like a beacon guards thee home.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XVII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 28:
text: Oh, never will I roam / Now I know my place is home / Where the ocean meets the sky / I'll be sailin'
ref: 1986, Marc Jordan, John Capek, “Rhythm of My Heart”, in Vagabond Heart, performed by Rod Stewart, published 1991:
text: Wilshere had started as a left-footed right-winger, coming in off the flank, but he and Özil both had the licence to roam. Tomas Rosicky was not tied down to one spot either and, with Ramsey breaking forward as well as Olivier Giroud's considerable presence, Marseille were overwhelmed from the moment Bacary Sagna's first touch of the night sent Wilshere running clear.
ref: 2013 November 26, Daniel Taylor, “Jack Wilshere scores twice to ease Arsenal to victory over Marseille”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2021:
synonyms: err
shrithe
wander
mooch
glosses: To wander or travel freely and with no specific destination.
examples: text: Gangs of thugs roamed the streets.
text: And now wild beasts came forth the woods to roam.
ref: 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:
text: According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them.
ref: 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
glosses: To range or wander over.
topics: communications
computing
electrical-engineering
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
telecommunications
glosses: To use a network or service from different locations or devices.
examples: text: At first, it seemed counterintuitive to me to roam settings between computers, but my problem at the time was that every example I was considering was a setting that only made sense for a single computer.
ref: 2013, Scott Isaacs, Kyle Burns, Beginning Windows Store Application Development:
topics: communications
computing
electrical-engineering
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
telecommunications
glosses: To transmit (resources) between different locations or devices, to allow comparable usage from any of them.
Derived terms: freedom to roam
free roam
free-roaming
right to roam
roamer
roaming eye
roaming master