English

Noun

ambitus ‎(plural ambituses)

1. (music) the range of a melody, especially those of ecclesiastical chants
2. (botany, zoology) The exterior edge or border of a thing, such as a leaf or shell.
3. (historical, Roman antiquity) A canvassing for votes.

Latin

Etymology

From ambiō ‎(“I go around, I encircle, I solicit”).

Noun

ambītus m ‎(genitive ambītūs); fourth declension

1. circuit
2. orbit, cycle
3. periphrasis, circumlocution
4. show, ostentation, vanity
5. bribery

Inflection

Fourth declension.

Descendants

• English: ambit
• Italian: ambito
• Portuguese: âmbito
• Spanish: ámbito
• Venetian: anbito

References

• ambitus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ambitus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• AMBITUS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “ambitus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the period: ambitus, circuitus, comprehensio, continuatio (verborum, orationis), also simply periodus
    
  • to accuse some one of illegal canvassing: accusare aliquem ambitus, de ambitu
    
• ambitus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ambitus in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin