Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Ambit \Am"bit\, n. [L. ambitus circuit, fr. ambire to go around.
   See {Ambient}.]
   Circuit or compass.

         His great parts did not live within a small ambit.
                                                  --Milward.

Source : WordNet®

ambit
     n : an area in which something acts or operates or has power or
         control: "the range of a supersonic jet"; "the ambit of
         municipal legislation"; "within the compass of this
         article"; "within the scope of an investigation";
         "outside the reach of the law"; "in the political orbit
         of a world power" [syn: {scope}, {range}, {reach}, {orbit},
          {compass}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

AMBIT
     
         Algebraic Manipulation by Identity Translation
        (also claimed: "Acronym May Be Ignored Totally").
     
        An early {pattern-matching} language, developed by
        C. Christensen of Massachusetts Computer Assocs in 1964, aimed
        at algebraic manipulation.
     
        [Sammet 1969, pp. 454-457].
     
        (1994-12-08)