Meanings
plural vicambulists
- rareSomeone who walks or wanders streets.
"To see and to be seen," is the professed object of these unwearied vicambulists.
1821, “The King of Clubs”, in The Etonian, volume I, number I, →OCLC, page 52 more examples
For example, he would stare at the windows of shops; then, when the sales staff would encourage him to enter, he would discount them with indignation that he was not a browser—he was a vicambulist and also an excavator—literary, that is, and he would wink.
2011, T. Byram Karasu, Gotham Chronicles: The Culture of Sociopathy, Lanham, M.D. […]: Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 134I am Professor Shinichiro Kanazawa, Department of Western Philosophy, Kyoto University. My card. I am here as a vicambulist, someone who pleasantly strolls around cities for recreation, though like you I prefer the vernacular 'to ramble.'
2017, Peter van Buren, Hooper's War, Sedona, A.Z.: Luminis Books, →ISBN, page 28
Origin
- Latinvīcus“street”
- Englishvicambulist
From Latin vīcus (“street”) + -ambulist (“walker”). Later popularized by its inclusion in the Oxford English Dictionary and thence various "rare word" lists.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
vicambulist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vicambulist
“vicambulist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vicambulist. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vicambulist,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vicambulist.
Source: vicambulist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.