ambulatory

Latin ambulatorius

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈam.bjə.ləˌtoɹ.i/, /-bjʊ-/

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• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌæm.bjəˈleɪ.tɹi/
• Hyphenation: am‧bu‧la‧to‧ry

ambulatory (comparative more ambulatory, superlative most ambulatory)

1. Of, relating to, or adapted to walking.

   ambulatory exercise

   • 1642, Henry Wotton, A Short View of the Life and Death of George Villiers:

     The princess of whom his majesty […] had an ambulatory view in his travels.

2. (comparable, medicine) Able to walk about and not bedridden.

   an ambulatory patient

3. (medicine) Performed on or involving an outpatient.

   an ambulatory electrocardiogram

   ambulatory medical care

   • 2007 June 1, Leslie Feinberg, “Cuba brought science, not scapegoating, to AIDS care”, in Workers World‎:

     Those who left the sanatoria received ambulatory care that included regular doctor's care, visits to specialists and dietary supplements.

4. (medicine) Relating to ambulances.

   ambulatory fleet

5. Accustomed to move from place to place; not stationary; movable.

   an ambulatory court, which exercises its jurisdiction in different places

   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Section VI”, in Clerus Domini: or, A Discourse of the Divine Institution, Necessity, Sacrednesse, and Separation of the Office Ministerial. […], London: […] R[ichard] Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC, paragraph 1, page 35:

     As ſoon as God began to conſtitute a Church and fix the Prieſthood, which before was very ambulatory, and diſpenſed into all families, but ever officiated by the Major domo, God gives the power and deſigns the perſon.

6. (law) Not yet legally fixed or settled; alterable.

   The dispositions of a will are ambulatory until the death of the testator.

• ambulate
• ambulator

• out of bed

ambulatory (plural ambulatories)

1. The round walkway encircling the altar in many cathedrals.
2. Any part of a building intended for walking in; a corridor.