about
/əˈbaʊ̯t/ preposition, adverb, adjective, verb
Forms abouts abouting abouted aboot abowt a. ab. abt.
- preposition In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around. “The snake was coiled about his ankle.”
- preposition Over or upon different parts of; through or over in various directions; here and there in; to and fro in; throughout. “Rubbish was strewn about the place.”
- preposition (with 'to' and verb infinitive) See about to.
- preposition (with present participle, obsolete or dialect) On the point or verge of.
- preposition Concerning; with regard to; on account of; on the subject of. “He talked a lot about his childhood.”
- preposition Concerned or occupied with; engaged in; intent on. “just going about their business”
- preposition Within or in the immediate neighborhood of; in contiguity or proximity to; near, as to place. “I can’t find my reading glasses, but they must be somewhere about the house.”
- preposition On one’s person; nearby the person. “I had no weapon about me but a stick.”
- adverb On all sides, or in every or any direction from a point; around. “I looked about at the scenery that surrounded me.”
- adverb Here and there; around; in one place and another; up and down. “Bits of old machinery were lying about.”
- adverb From one place or position to another in succession; indicating repeated movement or activity. “walking about; rushing about; jumping about; thrashing about”
- adverb Indicating unproductive or unstructured activity. “messing about; fooling about; loafing about”
- adverb Nearly; approximately; with close correspondence in quality, manner, degree, quantity, or time; almost. “It’s about as cold as it was last winter.”
- adverb Near; in the vicinity.
- adverb To a reversed order, direction, or condition; half round; in (or to, or from) the opposite direction. “to face about; to turn oneself about”
- adverb (nautical) To the opposite tack: see go about. “We went about and headed offshore.”
- adjective Moving around or in motion; astir. “out and about; up and about”
- adjective In existence; being in evidence; apparent. “This idea has been about for a while but has only recently become fashionable.”
- adjective Near; in the vicinity or neighbourhood. “I had my keys just a minute ago, so they must be about somewhere.”
- verb (nautical, uncommon) To change the course of (a ship) to the other tack; to bring (a ship) about.
Synonyms
apropos as for anent apropos of as far as as regards as relates to as respects as to concerned with connected with concerning dealing with in reference to in regard to in regards to in relation to in respect of IRT in terms of astir approximately close to just about some roughly more or less around or so almost
Antonyms
by the by by the way irrespective of malapropos in passing regardless of
Etymology
Preposition and adverb from Middle English aboute, abouten, from Old English abūtan, onbūtan, from on (“in, on”) + būtan (“outside of”) (compare modern English but, bout), itself from be (“by”) + ūtan (“outside”); equivalent to on + be + out or on + but. Cognate with Old Frisian abûta (“outside; except”). Not related to bout (“period of time”)
Adjective from Middle English about (adverb).
Webster’s 1913
- preposition Around; all round; on every side of. "Look about you." Shak. "Bind them about thy neck." Prov. iii. 3.
- preposition In the immediate neighborhood of; in contiguity or proximity to; near, as to place; by or on (one's person). "Have you much money about you" Bulwer.
- adverb On all sides; around.
- adverb In circuit; circularly; by a circuitous way; around the outside; as, a mile about, and a third of a mile across.
Etymology [OE. aboute, abouten, abuten; AS. abutan, onbutan; on + butan, which is from be by + utan outward, from ut out. See But, Out.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “about”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details