bution ( Old Scotch )

[In Fr. ambition; Sp. ambicion; Port, ambiçao; Ital. am biz i one: from Lat. ambitio ambition; ambio = to go around, or go about; and itio = a going, from ire = to go. A going round, or going about of candidates for office in ancient Rome. Ambitio was considered a lawful kind of canva ing; while ambit us implied unlawful efforts to obtain an office; as, for instance, by bribery.] *1. A going about to solicit or obtain anything desirable, or to sound the praise of one's own deeds. "I on the other side "Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds: The deeds themselves, though mute, spoke loud the doer." Milton : n: Samson Agon. 2. A desire for power, which one may seek to gratify in a thoroughly unobjectionable manner, but which, when strongly developed, tempts one to adopt tortuous or tyrannical courses with the view of removing obstacles to the attainment of his wishes. with a far fiercer and more earnest ambi tion ..."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng . , ch. ii. ascendancy on the sea the great object of their ambition ."- Ibid ., ch. xxiii. 3. A desire for superiority or excellence in any object of pursuit. "The quick'ning power would be, and so would rest; The sense would not be only, but be well; But wit's ambition longeth to the best, For it desires in endle bli to dwell."- Davies . Ambition is often used with the infinitive, Fr. ambler; Sp. amblar; Ital. ambiare. From Lat. ambulo = to go about, to walk.] 1. To adopt the pace called an amble. [See the substantive.] Properly applied to a horse, but sometimes also to its rider. "Frequent in park with lady at his side, Ambling and prattling scandal as he goes," Cowper: The Task, bk. il. 2. To move easily, without hard shocks or shaking. " Orl . Who ambles time withal? Ros. With a priest that lacks Latin, and a rich man that hath not the gout, for the one sleeps easily because he cannot study, and the other lives merrily because he feels no pain; the one lacking the burden of lean and wasteful learning, the other knowing no burden of heavy tedious penury: him time ambles withal"-Shakesp. As You Like It , iii. 2. 3. Ludicrously : To move with submi ion and by direction, as a horse which ambles uses an unnatural pace. "A laughing, toying, wheedling, whimpering she, Shall make him amble on a go ip's me age, And take the distaff with a hand as patient As e'er did Hercules," Rowe: Jane Shore.