around
Language: English
Part of speech: prep
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: She wore a gold chain around her neck.
text: I planted a row of lilies around the statue.
text: The jackals began to gather around the carcass.
text: Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
ref: 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
synonyms: word: environ
glosses: Forming a circle or closed curve containing (something).
examples: text: We could use some clarification around the new rules.
text: There has been a lot of controversy around the handling of personal information.
text: The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.
ref: 2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26:
synonyms: word: environ
glosses: Centred upon; surrounding; regarding.
raw_tags: of abstract things
examples: text: We walked around the football field.
text: She went around the track fifty times.
glosses: Following the perimeter of a specified area and returning to the starting point.
examples: text: The road took a brief detour around the large rock formation, then went straight on.
text: I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
text: But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw, peeping around the massive silver epergne that almost obscured him from her view, that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either.
ref: 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
glosses: Following a path which curves near an object, with the object on the inside of the curve.
examples: text: I left my keys somewhere around here.
text: I left the house around 10 this morning.
text: I don't want you around me.
glosses: Near; in the vicinity of.
examples: text: The pages from the notebook were scattered around the room.
text: Those teenagers like to hang around the mall.
text: She went around the office and got everyone to sign the card.
text: The estate agent showed me around the property.
text: Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
glosses: At or to various places within or throughout.
Derived terms: albatross around one's neck
a lie can run around the world before the truth can get its boots on
all around
all-around
aroundness
around one's ears
around Robin Hood's barn
around the bend
around the clock
around-the-clock
around the corner
around the horn
around the Horn
around the traps
around the way
around the wicket
around the world
bag around one's eye
bag around the eye
bat around
beat around the bush
bop around
bugger around
bust around
come-around
crap around
dance around
dial-around
dig around
enough to go around
flute around
frig around
fuss around
get around
get one's arms around
get one's head around
go all around the houses
go all around the Wrekin
go around
go-around
go around the houses
go around with
green around the gills
hack around
hand around
hang around
hang-around
have been around
have been around the block
hedge around
hell around
hoe around
honey around
jazz around
jive around
kickaround
kite around
lark around
leg around
loll around
long way around
lush around
mouse around
order around
plenty to go around
putz around
rally around the flag
reach-around
read-around ratio
revolve around
ring-around-the-rosy
rough around the edges
round
run around
run-around
runaround
run circles around
run rings around
send around
shootaround
shoot around
shove around
skate around
skate-around
skirt around
slap around
sneak around
splash around
square around
swing one's dick around
the clock around
the long way around the barn
therearound
think the world revolves around one
throw nickels around like manhole covers
turn around
turnaround
twist around one's little finger
up and around
walkaround
walk around money
walk-around money
walking-around money
wherearound
whip-around
wind around one's little finger
workaround
wrap-around
wrap around one's little finger
wrap around
wraparound
wrap one's arms around
wrap one's head around
wrap one's mind around