wander

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   go via an indirect route or at no set pace

   After dinner, we wandered into town

2. 2
   verb

   To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood.

   to wander over the fields

3. 3
   verb

   To stray; stray from one's course; err.

   A writer wanders from his subject.

4. 4
   noun

   An act or instance of wandering.

   to go for a wander in the park

5. 5
   noun

   Deviation from a correct or normal value.

   baseline wander in ECG signals

6. 6
   verb

   lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking

7. 7
   verb

   move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment

8. 8
   verb

   to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course

Etymology

From Middle English wandren, from Old English wandrian (“to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err”), from Proto-West Germanic *wandarōn (“to wander”), from *wandōn (“to turn, change”) + *-rōn (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Scots wander (“to wander”), German wandern (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Dutch wandelen (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Danish vandre (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Swedish vandra (“to wander, hike”).