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Webster 1913 Edition

Wander

Wan′der

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Wandered
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Wandering
.]
[OE.
wandren
,
wandrien
, AS.
wandrian
; akin to G.
wandern
to wander; fr. AS.
windan
to turn. See
Wind
to turn.]
1.
To ramble here and there without any certain course or with no definite object in view; to range about; to stroll; to rove;
as, to
wander
over the fields
.
They
wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins.
Heb. xi. 37.
He
wandereth
abroad for bread.
Job xv. 23.
2.
To go away; to depart; to stray off; to deviate; to go astray;
as, a writer
wanders
from his subject
.
When God caused me to
wander
from my father’s house.
Gen. xx. 13.
O, let me not
wander
from thy commandments.
Ps. cxix. 10.
3.
To be delirious; not to be under the guidance of reason; to rave;
as, the mind
wanders
.
Syn. – To roam; rove; range; stroll; gad; stray; straggly; err; swerve; deviate; depart.

Wan′der

,
Verb.
T.
To travel over without a certain course; to traverse; to stroll through.
[R.]
“[Elijah] wandered this barren waste.”
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition

Wander

WANDER

,
Verb.
I.
[G., to wander, to walk, to change, exchange or transform.]
1.
To rove; to ramble here and there without any certain course or object in view; as, to wander over the fields; to wander about the town, or about the country. Men may sometimes wander for amusement or exercise. Persons sometimes wander because they have no home and are wretched, and sometimes because they have no occupation.
They wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins. Hebrews 11.
He wandereth abroad for bread. Job 15.
He was wandering in the field. Genesis 37.
2.
To leave home; to depart; to migrate.
When God caused me to wander from my fathers house-- Genesis 20.
3.
To depart from the subject in discussion; as, to wander from the point.
4.
In a moral sense, to stray; to deviate; to depart from duty or rectitude.
O let me not wander from they commandments. Psalm 119.
5.
To be delirious; not to be under the guidance of reason; as, the mind wanders.

WANDER

,
Verb.
T.
To travel over without a certain course.
Wandring many a famous realm. [Elliptical.]

Definition 2024

wander

wander

English

Verb

wander ‎(third-person singular simple present wanders, present participle wandering, simple past and past participle wandered)

  1. (intransitive) To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood.
    to wander over the fields‎
    • Bible, Hebrews xi.37:
      They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins.
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter IX”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; […]. Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.
    • 1915, George A. Birmingham, “chapter I”, in Gossamer (Project Gutenberg; EBook #24394), London: Methuen & Co., published 8 January 2013 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 558189256:
      There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. […] Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.
  2. (intransitive) To stray; stray from one's course; err.
    A writer wanders from his subject.‎
    • Bible, Psalms cxix.10:
      O, let me not wander from thy commandments.
  3. (intransitive) To commit adultery.
  4. (intransitive) To go somewhere indirectly or at varying speeds; to move in a curved path.
  5. (intransitive) Of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention.

Conjugation

Synonyms

  • (move without purpose): err, roam
  • (commit adultery): cheat
  • (go somewhere indirectly):
  • (lose focus): drift

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

wander ‎(plural wanders)

  1. The act or instance of wandering.
    To go for a wander

Translations

Anagrams

German

Verb

wander

  1. First-person singular present of wandern.
  2. Imperative singular of wandern.

Etymology

From Middle English wandren, wandrien, from Old English wandrian ‎(“to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err”), from Proto-Germanic *wandrōną ‎(“to wander”), from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- ‎(“to turn, wind”), equivalent to wend +‎ -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Scots wander ‎(“to wander”), German wandern ‎(“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Swedish vandra ‎(“to wander, hike”).

Pronunciation

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