wanders

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of wander.

   His attention wanders the moment a lecture grows dull.

   A lone hiker wanders across the high meadow each summer.

   Note

   One form carries every intransitive meaning of the verb, so the subject decides the reading. A hiker wanders across a meadow, attention wanders from a dull lecture, and a spouse who wanders strays from the marriage. In these senses the place follows a preposition rather than standing as an object: wanders across, through, off, away from.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of wander.

   Her afternoon wanders around the old town always turned up some hidden shop.

   These aimless wanders through the woods cleared his head better than any plan.

   Note

   Only the countable noun pluralizes. A wander is one outing, so several outings are wanders. The uncountable use, a deviation from a correct or normal value, stays singular: an instrument shows wander, never wanders. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb. A determiner or adjective in front (these wanders, afternoon wanders) marks the noun.

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