about
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈbaʊ̯t/
ipa: /əˈbaʊ̯t/
note: Canadian raising
ipa: [əˈbʌʊ̯t]
note: Canadian raising
ipa: [əˈbɐʊ̯t]
note: Canadian raising
ipa: [əˈboʊ̯t]
note: Nova Scotia
ipa: [əˈbɵu̯t]
ipa: [əˈbɛʊ̯t]
ipa: /əˈbɛʊ̯t/
note: Local Dublin
ipa: /əˈbɛʊ̯/
note: Local Dublin
ipa: [əˈbɛʊ̯ʔ]
ipa: /əˈbuːt/
rhymes: -aʊt
Forms: form: aboot
form: abowt
form: a.
form: ab.
form: abt.
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *ana-
Proto-West Germanic *ana-
Old English on-?
Proto-West Germanic *biūtan
Old English būtan
Old English onbūtan
Middle English aboute
English about
Preposition and adverb from Middle English aboute, abouten, from Old English abūtan, onbūtan, from on (“in, on”) + būtan (“outside of”), itself from be (“by”) + ūtan (“outside”). Cognate with Old Frisian abûta (“outside; except”).
Adjective from Middle English about (adverb).
Senses: examples: text: I looked about at the scenery that surrounded me.
text: Why, then, I see, ’tis time to look about, / When every boy Alphonsus dares control.
ref: 1599, Robert Greene, The Comical History of Alphonsus King of Aragon, III-ii:
text: all the blessings / Of a glad father compass thee about
ref: 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest
text: Dunkerk is […] well-built and populous, strongly fortified all about where it is capable: only toward the Downs or sandy Hills on the Southwest side of the Town, though there had been much Cost bestowed in raising Forts, yet were they almost filled up and spoiled with Sand driven in by the force of stormy Winds, against which it will be very hard to secure any Fort that shall be there erected.
ref: 1673, John Ray, Observations Topographical, Moral, & Physiological: Made in a Journey Through Part of the Low-countries, Germany, Italy, and France: with a Catalogue of Plants Not Native of England, Found Spontaneously Growing in Those Parts, and Their Virtues:
text: And from the middle Darkness flashing out, By fits he deals his fiery Bolts about. Earth feels the Motions of her angry God, Her Entrails tremble, and her Mountains nod;[…]
ref: 1716, Virgil, translated by Dryden, The Works of Virgil ... Translated Into English Verse; by Mr. Dryden, page 110:
glosses: On all sides, or in every or any direction from a point; around.
examples: text: Bits of old machinery were lying about.
text: ... the tocsins of immemorial strife were sounding all about, the fierce old bell pealing out its periodical summons from the airy heights of the Palazzo Vecchio, and armed men, fierce and furious, swarming about the streets.
ref: 1876, Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant, The Makers of Florence: Dante, Giotto, Savonarola; and Their City ... With Portrait of Savonarola ... and Illustrations from Drawings by Professor Delamotte:
text: Feathers were strewn about—white feathers! With them were several splotches of dried blood splattered across the dirt. Matthew's heart sank. He knew whose feathers those were! Something terrible had happened here.
ref: 2013 December 9, Michael Phillips, The Sword, the Garden, and the King, Rosetta Books, →ISBN:
glosses: Here and there; around; in one place and another; up and down.
examples: text: walking about;  rushing about;  jumping about;  thrashing about
text: 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, 1 Timothy, v,13,
And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.
text: He and Gerald usually challenged the rollers in a sponson canoe when Gerald was there for the weekend; or, when Lansing came down, the two took long swims seaward or cruised about in Gerald's dory, clad in their swimming-suits; and Selwyn's youth became renewed in a manner almost ridiculous,[…].
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
text: He bustled about and about, speaking to every one, but declined listening for a single moment to any.
ref: 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, page 271:
text: She was [...] moving furniture about, and marching into the apartment at the front even before the tenants had left.
ref: 2008 January 29, Emile Zola, The Beast Within, Penguin, →ISBN:
glosses: From one place or position to another in succession; indicating repeated movement or activity.
examples: text: messing about;  fooling about;  loafing about
glosses: Indicating unproductive or unstructured activity.
examples: text: It’s about as cold as it was last winter.
text: He owes me about three hundred dollars.
text: Dinner’s about ready.
text: I was so scared, I about fainted.
text: I’ll see you at about 4 o'clock; I'll see you about a year from now.
text: The next conference will be held about a year from now in a venue about six miles from here.
text: Therefore I know she is about my height.
ref: c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
text: 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, Matthew, xx, 3,
And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace
text: Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
ref: 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, Exodus, ix, 18
text: And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
ref: 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, Exodus, xxxii,28
text: “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.[…]”
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
text: I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
text: In about every one of these works I have pleaded the cause of the working people; and I shall now see that cause triumph, in spite of all that can be done to prevent it.
ref: 1828, William Cobbett, A Year's Residence in the United States of America. Treating of the Face of the Country, the Climate, the Soil, the Products, the Mode of Cultivating the Land ... [With a Map.], page 12:
text: […] about the hour of closing, we observed the sudden egress of about a hundred women from the establishment, all Irish, and all decently clad and well conducted. On inquiry, we found that they are employed continuously in the works, piling the lead for oxidation,[…]
ref: 1863, Virginia Penny, The Employments of Women: A Cyclopaedia of Woman's Work, page 480:
text: [H]e is about the most ignorant Rector within the four seas.
ref: 1867, The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, page 745:
text: The civilian proved to be a boy of about sixteen in knee pants.
ref: 1945, Journal of the United States Artillery, page 49:
text: [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].
ref: 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
text: I was about to leave when the door swung open, revealing a woman about my height with straight, light brown hair and sad eyes. "Can I help you?"
ref: 2013 10, Joelle Charbonneau, Skating Under the Wire: A Mystery, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 138:
glosses: Nearly; approximately; with close correspondence in quality, manner, degree, quantity, or time; almost.
examples: text: I looked round at the people standing about, and observed them curiously in their peculiar relation to it all.
ref: 1879, Scribner's Monthly, an Illustrated Magazine for the People, page 212:
glosses: Near; in the vicinity.
examples: text: to face about;  to turn oneself about
text: Mr. Carter, whose back had been turned, turned about and faced his niece.
ref: 1888, Horatio Alger, The Errand Boy:
text: Dykhuizen has the story the other way about, that Dewey decided in 1939 that he wished no longer to continue as "Emeritus Professor in Residence" and so informed Columbia in the knowledge that this would involve a substantial reduction in his income.
ref: 1995, Alan Ryan, John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 383:
text: I am sorry to hear of his illness. But I know she will bring him about. And if I smile, it is not out of disregard for your worries but only because mine are somewhat eased. I am relieved to know why I have not heard from her.
ref: 2017 October 16, Jeannie Troll, A Clever Girl: Part One, Page Publishing Inc, →ISBN:
glosses: To a reversed order, direction, or condition; half round; in (or to, or from) the opposite direction.
examples: text: We went about and headed offshore.
text: Before he goeth about, he will shoot off a piece; and, being about, will put forth another light, upon the poop […]
ref: 1809, The Harleian Miscellany: a collection of scarce, curious, and entertaining pamphlets and tracts ... found in the late Earl of Oxford's library. Interspersed with historical, political, and critical notes, etc. With an introduction by Samuel Johnson, page 45:
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: To a reversed order, direction, or condition; half round; in (or to, or from) the opposite direction.
To the opposite tack: see go about.
examples: text: When he had finished, he drew his plaid around his head, and went slowly down to the little dell, where he used every day to offer up his morning and evening prayers, and where we have often sat together on Sabbath afternoons, reading verse about with our children in the Bible.
ref: 1818, James Hogg, published in The Scots Magazine, Vol. 86, p. 218, "On the Life and Writings of James Hogg" https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=W-5HAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA128&dq=%22reading+verse+about+with+our+children%22 [Quoted in the OED]
glosses: In succession, one after another.
examples: text: What an Arme he has, he turn'd me about with his finger and his thumbe, as one would set up a Top.
ref: 1908 [c. 1606], William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Coriolanus, Oppidan Library, page 96:
text: Prithee, do not turn me about; my stomach is not constant.
ref: 1897 [c. 1610], William Shakespeare, The Tempest, ed. by F.S. Boas, page 27:
text: "turn and turn about is fair play : you saw the rat that was killed in the parlor." "Turn about [is] fair play, indeed!" cried the cat. "Then all of you get to your spits; I am sure that is turn about!" "Nay, "said the turnspits, wagging their tails and laughing. "That is over and over again,which is not fair play. 'T is the coffee-mill that is turn and turn about."
ref: 1902, Mary Mapes Dodge, St. Nicholas, page 1095:
text: I was driving by myself. The only hard part was shifting, I did grind the gears a few times until I got used to it. I practiced going about in circles and backing in and out of the barn.
ref: 2012 02, Edmund C. Schimek, A Small Time in Space, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 12:
glosses: In rotation or revolution.
examples: to bring about, to come about
qualifier: outside set phrases
glosses: In the course of events.
examples: text: The island was a mile about, and a third of a mile across.
text: Indeede I am in the waste two yards about.
ref: c. 1597-1602, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor
text: ... a more easie way, though it were farther about.
ref: 1904 [1600?], Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation Made by Sea Or Over-land to the Remote and Farthest Distant Quarters of the Earth at Any Time Within the Compasse of These 1600 Yeeres, page 104:
text: ... the sure way, though most about, to make gold, is to know the causes of the several natures before rehearsed, […]
ref: 1842 [1650?], Francis Bacon, Sylva sylvarum, or A natural history; Papers relating to the Earl of Essex; Papers relating to Sir Edward Coke, page 50:
glosses: In circuit or circumference; circularly.
examples: text: God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea.
ref: 1790, The Christian's Complete Family Bible: Containin the Whole of the Sacred Text of the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocrypha at Large:
glosses: By a circuitous way; circuitously.
Synonyms: sense: many senses
word: around