roam

[rohm] /roʊm/
verb (used without object)
1.
to walk, go, or travel without a fixed purpose or direction; ramble; wander; rove:
to roam about the world.
verb (used with object)
2.
to wander over or through:
to roam the countryside.
noun
3.
an act or instance of roaming; a ramble.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English romen < ?
Related forms
roamer, noun
unroaming, adjective
Synonyms
1. stray, stroll, prowl. Roam, ramble, range, rove imply wandering about over (usually) a considerable amount of territory. Roam implies a wandering or traveling over a large area, especially as prompted by restlessness or curiosity: to roam through a forest. Ramble implies pleasant, carefree moving about, walking with no specific purpose and for a limited distance: to ramble through fields near home. Range usually implies wandering over a more or less defined but extensive area in search of something: Cattle range over the plains. Rove sometimes implies wandering with specific incentive or aim, as an animal for prey: Bandits rove through these mountains.
Examples from the web for roam
  • We roam to opposite corners of the globe knowing that friends and colleagues can reach us by dialing a single number.
  • Anniversaries are one of the few occasions at which a nostalgic impulse should be left to roam unfettered.
  • These tough animals are solitary, and they need a lot of room to roam.
  • The freedom that qubits have to roam across the entire sphere helps to give quantum computers their unique capabilities.
  • We're looking for some of the only giraffes in the world that roam entirely in unprotected habitat.
  • Instead of cages, chimpanzees would roam forested enclosures.
  • Pro-government militias roam the countryside, terrorising and beating suspected opposition supporters.
  • Spend your morning on the beach then roam the rolling vineyards and sample local wines in the afternoon.
  • From the first minute of the game, you have the freedom to roam about the city and its outskirts as much as you want.
  • Sales managers roam the aisles of high volume call centers.
British Dictionary definitions for roam

roam

/rəʊm/
verb
1.
to travel or walk about with no fixed purpose or direction; wander
noun
2.
the act of roaming
Derived Forms
roamer, noun
Word Origin
C13: origin unknown
Word Origin and History for roam
v.

c.1300, romen, possibly from Old English *ramian "act of wandering about," which is probably related to aræman "arise, lift up." There are no certain cognate forms in other Germanic languages, but Barnhart points to Old Norse reimuðr "act of wandering about," reimast "to haunt." "Except in late puns, there is no evidence of connexion with the Romance words denoting pilgrims or pilgrimages to Rome ...." [OED], such as Spanish romero "a pilot-fish; a pilgrim;" Old French romier "travelling as a pilgrim; a pilgrim," from Medieval Latin romerius "a pilgrim" (originally to Rome). Related: Roamed; roamer; roaming.

Slang definitions & phrases for roam

roam

verb

To use a cellular phone outside of one's own service area: Hi honey. I'm roaming in San Francisco (1990s+)