[f. L. excurs- ppl. stem of excurrĕre: see EXCUR.]
1. intr. To run off, wander, digress. Chiefly fig.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), III. x. 71. But how I excurse!—Yet thou usedst to say, thou likedst my excursions.
1887. Sat. Rev., 17 Sept., 403. The text excurses in Mr. Carroll’s usual style about babies and cakes.
1891. Miss Dowie, Girl in Karp., 239. At first I excursed in various directions, thinking to light upon a track.
2. To make, or go upon, an excursion.
1775. Sterne’s Sent. Journ. Contd., Tilt of Arms, 177. Who can dispute a Parisian’s word, who never has excursed beyond the gates?
1820. Knox & Jebb, Corr., II. 440. I … am to excurse ten miles, on the Dover road.
1841. Caroline Fox, Mem. Old Friends (1882), 7 Aug., 133. When the Franklins and Sabines were excursing in Ireland, they went through some difficult pass.
3. trans. ‘To journey or pass through’ (Webster, 1864).
a. 1859. Hallam is cited by Worcester (1860).
