around
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈɹaʊnd/
ipa: /əˈɹuːnd/
rhymes: -aʊnd
Forms: form: round
form: arownd
form: ron
form: 'round
Etymology: From Middle English around, arounde, from a- (from Old English a- (“on, at”)) + Middle English round (“circle, round”) borrowed from French, equivalent to a- + round. Cognate with Scots aroond, aroon (“around”). Displaced earlier Middle English umbe, embe (“around”) (from Old English ymbe (“around”)).
Senses: examples: text: High above, vultures circled around.
glosses: So as to form a circle or trace a circular path, or approximation thereof.
examples: text: Everybody please gather around.
text: There isn't another house for miles around.
glosses: So as to surround or be near.
examples: text: Around a thousand people attended.
text: An adult elephant weighs around five tons.
glosses: Nearly; approximately; about.
examples: text: There are rumors going around that the company is bankrupt.
text: Look around and see what you find.
text: We moved the furniture around in the living room.
text: Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady.[…]She looked around expectantly, and recognizing Mrs. Cooke's maid[…]Miss Thorn greeted her with a smile which greatly prepossessed us in her favor.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.
ref: 2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, page 80:
glosses: From place to place.
examples: text: The team wasn't doing well, but the new coach really turned things around.
text: He used to stay up late but his new girlfriend changed that around.
text: The patient was unconscious but the doctor brought him around quickly.
text: I didn't think he would ever like the new design, but eventually we brought him around.
glosses: From one state or condition to an opposite or very different one; with a metaphorical change in direction; bringing about awareness or agreement.
examples: text: Turn around at the end of this street.
text: She spun around a few times.
qualifier: spin
glosses: So as to partially or completely rotate; so as to face in the opposite direction.
raw_tags: with turn
examples: text: I asked around, and no-one really liked it.
text: Shopping around can get you a better deal.
text: When are you going to stop whoring around, find a nice girl, and give us grandchildren?
glosses: Used with verbs to indicate repeated or continuous action, or in numerous locations or with numerous people.
examples: text: sit around, mess around, loaf around
glosses: Used with certain verbs to suggest unproductive activity.
Derived terms: sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: boss around
sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: fool around
sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: fuck around
sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: goof around
sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: horse around
sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: lie around
sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: lounge around
sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: mess around
sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: monkey around
sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: play around
sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: shop around
sense: indicating repeated or continuous action, or unproductive action
word: sleep around
sense: from place to place
word: kick around
sense: from place to place
word: know one's way around
sense: from place to place
word: look around
sense: from place to place
word: mill around
sense: from place to place
word: move around
sense: from place to place
word: pass around
sense: from place to place
word: push around
sense: from place to place
word: show around
sense: from place to place
word: walk around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: around about
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: around and around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: arse around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: ask around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: balls around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: bandy around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: bang around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: bomb around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: bounce around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: bum around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: busy around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: call around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: cast around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: cat around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: clown around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: dick around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: dog around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: doss around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: faff around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: fall around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: fanny around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: fart around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: feel around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: ferret around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: fiddle around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: flash around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: float around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: footle around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: futz around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: get around to
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: go around in circles
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: haul around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: jack around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: jerk around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: joke around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: jump around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: keep around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: kid around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: knock around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: laze around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: louse around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: money makes the world go around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: mope around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: muck around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: nose around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: pal around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: pass around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: piss around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: pitch around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: poke around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: poling around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: potter around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: prat around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: priss around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: put around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: putter around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: rally around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: rattle around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: ring around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: roll around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: root around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: screw around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: you around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: slap someone around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: slob around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: smack around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: smoke around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: sniff around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: snoop around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: snootle around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: squirrel around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: stand around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: stick around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: talk around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: the other way around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: thick around the middle
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: throw money around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: throw one's weight around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: throw the bull around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: tiptoe around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: tool around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: toss around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: turn around one's finger
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: twat around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: wait around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: wasp around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: what comes around goes around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: wheel around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: whore around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: win around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: work around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: yank around
sense: Other terms and phrasal verbs with "around" (unsorted)
word: year-around
Related terms: about