1793, "a walker, one who walks or journeys on foot," from pedestrian (adj.). In early use especially "one who walks or races on foot for a wager; a professional walker; one who has made a notable record for speed or endurance." In 20c. it came to mean especially "person walking on a road or pavement" as opposed to person driving or riding in a motor vehicle.
1942, apparently first attested in the Walt Disney movie "Bambi" (there also was a song by that name but it was not in the studio release of the film), a past-participle adjective formed from twitter in the "tremulous excitement" noun sense (1670s) + pate (n.2) "head" (compare flutterpated, 1894).
Thumper: Why are they acting that way?
Friend Owl: Why, don't you know? They're twitterpated.
Flower, Bambi, Thumper: Twitterpated?
Friend Owl: Yes. Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. For example: You're walking along, minding your own business. You're looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of a sudden you run smack into a pretty face. Woo-woo! You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head's in a whirl. And then you feel light as a feather, and before you know it, you're walking on air. And then you know what? You're knocked for a loop, and you completely lose your head!
Thumper: Gosh, that's awful.
late Old English, "set of persons walking or riding formally or with ceremonious solemnity; a religious procession; the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem," from Old French procession "procession" (religious or secular), 11c., and directly from Late Latin processionem (nominative processio) "religious procession," in classical Latin "a marching onward, a going forward, advance," noun of action from past-participle stem of procedere (see proceed). Meaning "act of issuing forth" from anything is late 14c. Related: Processionary.
Old English colian, "to lose warmth," also figuratively, "to lose ardor;" cognate with Old Saxon kolon, Dutch koelen, Old High German chuolan, German kühlen, all from the root of cool (adj.). Transitive meaning "to cause to lose warmth, reduce the temperature of" is from late 14c. Related: Cooled; cooling.
Figurative meaning "abate the intensity of" is from c. 1300. To cool (one's) heels" wait in attendance, "generally applied to detention at a great man's door" [Century Dictionary] is attested from 1630s; probably the notion is "to rest one's feet after walking."
"something easy," 1863, American English, from cake (n.) + walk (n.). Probably it is in some way a reference to the cake given as a prize for the fanciest steps in a procession in a Southern black custom (explained by Thornton, 1912, as, "A walking competition among negroes," in which the prize cake goes to "the couple who put on most style"), even though its figurative meaning is recorded before the literal one (1879). As a verb, from 1904. This may also be the source of the verbal phrase take the cake "win all" (1847).
Originally brought into use during the excitement over "animal magnetism;" it won out over noctambulation. A stack of related words came into use early 19c., such as somnambule "sleepwalker" (1837, from French somnambule, 1690s), earlier somnambulator (1803); as adjectives, somnambulary (1827), somnambular (1820).
"long and loose-jointed," by 1812, from Scottish and Northern English gang (v.) "to walk, go," which is a survival of Old English gangan, which is related to gang (n.). The form of the word is that of a present-participle adjective from a frequentative verb (as in fondling, trampling), but no intermediate forms are known. The sense extension would seem to be via some notion involving looseness in walking.
GANGLING. Tall, slender, delicate, generally applied to plants. Warw. [James O. Halliwell, "A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words," 1846]
late 14c., prauncen, originally of horses in high mettle, "make a show in walking; move proudly, lifting the feet with a capering motion," a word of unknown origin. By late 14c. of persons, "to strut, swagger, act proudly and aggressively."
Perhaps related to Middle English pranken "to show off" (from Middle Dutch pronken "to strut, parade;" see prank) by influence of dance (though prank is not attested as early as this word); or perhaps from Danish dialectal prandse "to go in a stately manner." Klein suggests Old French paravancier. Related: Pranced; prancing. As a noun from 1751, from the verb.
There also was a Latin instrumentive suffix -culo-, -culum in baculum "walking stick," gubernaculum "rudder, helm; management, government," operculum "cover, lid," obstaculum "a hindrance, obstacle," oraculum "divine announcement."