Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CIR-CUM-FO-RA'NE-AN, or CIR-CUM-FO-RA'NE-OUS, a. [L. circumforaneus; circum, around, and foris, a door, or abroad.]

Going about; walking or wandering from house to house; as, a circumforaneous fiddler or piper; circumforaneous wits. Addison, Spect. 47. Circumforaneous musicians, male and female, are daily seen at the doors of hotels, in France; and sometimes they enter the room, where a company is dining, and entertain them with music; expecting a franc or a few sous as a reward. – W.