[a. Fr. amble-r:—L. ambulā-re to walk.]
1. intr. Or a horse, mule, etc.: To move by lifting the two feet on one side together, alternately with the two feet on the other; hence, to move at a smooth or easy pace.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerkes T., 332. An hors snow-whit and wel amblyng.
c. 1400. Beryn, 940. As hors that evir trottid, trewlich I yew tell, It were hard to make hym after to ambill well.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., 66. Trotte sire and trotte damme, how should the fole amble? that is, when bothe father and mother were noughte, it is not like that the childe wil prove good.
1587. Holinshed, Chron., II. 20/1. They amble not, but gallop and run.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., III. ii. 328. I will tell you who time ambles withal; who time trots withal; who time gallops withal; and who he stands withal.
1650. B., Discolliminium, 5. She ambles with one leg, trots with another.
1690. Lond. Gaz., mmdxc/4. [The Mare] hath all her Goings, but ambles most.
1703. Steele, Tender Husb., II. i. A chariot drawn by one horse ambling, and t’other trotting.
1812. Combe (Dr. Syntax), Picturesque, VIII. 27. Grizzle, all alive and gay, Ambled along the ready way.
2. Of a person: To ride an ambling horse, to ride at an easy pace.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 838. What? amble, or trotte, or pees, or go sit doun.
1568. Jacob & Esau, IV. iv. in Hazl., Dodsl., II. 235. I will amble so fast, that I will soon be there.
1676. Wycherley, Plain-Dealer, IV. i. 55. Are all my hopes frustrated? shall I never … see thee amble the Circuit with the Judges?
1742. Fielding, J. Andrews, Wks. 1784, V. II. ii. 109. A grave serjeant at law condescended to amble to Westminster on an easy pad.
1856. T. Trollope, Cath. de Medici, 246. [The] little ladies, as they ambled on side by side, at the head of their gay cavalcade.
a. 1859. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., V. 306. William was ambling on a favourite horse … through the park of Hampton Court.
3. Hence, To move in a way suggesting the motion or pace of an ambling horse. Said of dancing, of the gait of an elderly person, or fig. of any easy motion.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. ii. 60. The skipping King, hee ambled vp and downe.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., i. 7. The Tawe … easely ambling downe through the Deuonian dales.
1713. Rowe, Jane Shore, I. i. (J.).
| A laughing, toying, wheadling, whimpering She, | |
| Shall make him amble on a Gossip’s Message. |
1714. Spect., No. 623, ¶ 16. A pretty young creature who closed the Procession came ambling in.
1715. Addison, Drummer, I. i. She has … play’d at an Assembly, and ambled in a Ball or two.
1765. H. Walpole, Otranto, ii. (1798), 31. How fast your thoughts amble.
1812. Combe (Dr. Syntax), Picturesque, XVII. 67. You shall soon Be ambling to some pretty tune.
1850. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xi. 92. A good-natured but extremely fidgetty and cautious old gentleman, ambled up and down the room.
