promenade

Etymology

Borrowed from French promenade, from promener (“to walk”).

noun

1. (formal) A prom (dance).
2. A walk taken for pleasure, display, or exercise; a stroll.
   His morning promenade. 1921, Charles Chaplin, The Kid
   Down in the arena, though, it was business as semi-normal with the band members making their traditional promenade through the crowd to a small in-the-round stage with a colourful player piano taking up most of the room. 2022-09-06, Fiona Shepherd, “Music review: Arcade Fire, Hydro, Glasgow”, in The Scotsman
3. A place where one takes a walk for leisurely pleasure, or for exercise, especially a terrace by the seaside.
   The present dream in particular scarcely left any room for doubt, since the place where my patient fell was the Graben, a part of Vienna notorious as a promenade for prostitutes. 1900, Sigmund Freud, translated by James Strachey, The Interpretation of Dreams, Avon Books, page 235
   By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country. 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court
   Haussmann’s remodelling brought about the boulevards, the building lots, the promenades and street planting that remain inimitably characteristic of Paris. 2001, Alan Tate, “Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris”, in Great City Parks, London, New York, N.Y.: Spon Press, published 2003, page 47, column 1
4. A dance motion consisting of a walk, done while square dancing.

verb

1. To walk for amusement, show, or exercise.
2. To perform the stylized walk of a square dance.