about

• (archaic) abowt; (abbreviation) a., (abbreviation) ab.,* (abbreviation) abt.

Preposition and adverb from Middle English aboute, abouten, from Old English abūtan,^[1] onbūtan, from on (“in, on”) +‎ būtan (“outside of”),^[2] itself from be (“by”) +‎ ūtan (“outside”).^[3] Cognate with Old Frisian abûta (“outside; except”).

Adjective from Middle English about (adverb).

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /əˈbaʊ̯t/

  • Audio (London):

    (file)

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /əˈbaʊ̯t/, (Canadian raising) [əˈbʌʊ̯t], (Canadian raising) [əˈbɐʊ̯t], (Canadian raising) [əˈboʊ̯t]

  • Audio (Ontario):

    (file)

  • (Nova Scotia) IPA^(key): [əˈbɵu̯t]
  • (Southern Ontario) IPA^(key): [əˈbɛʊ̯t]

  • Audio (British Columbia):

    (file)

• (Ireland, Virginia) IPA^(key): /əˈbɛʊ̯t/
  • (Local Dublin) IPA^(key): /əˈbɛʊ̯/, [əˈbɛʊ̯ʔ]
• Rhymes: -aʊt
• Hyphenation: about

about

1. In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around. [from before 1150]^[2]

   The snake was coiled about his ankle.

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, 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):

     So look about you; know you any here?

   • 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, Proverbs, iii, 3

     Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

   • 1843, Thomas Hobbes, The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury: The history of the Grecian war written by Thucydides; tr. by T. Hobbes, page 480:

     Pagondas […] sent two companies of horse secretly about the hill; whereby that wing of the Athenians which was victorious, apprehending upon their sudden appearing that they had been a fresh army, was put into affright: […]

   • 1874, David Laing Purves, The English Circumnavigators: The Most Remarkable Voyages Round the World by English Sailors, London : W.P. Nimmo, page 214:

     […] for they could not get about the cape, because the wind on this coast is commonly between the NW. and SW., which makes it very difficult getting to the westward; but they left four canoes with forty-six men at the cape, […]

   • 1877, Alfred Tennyson, The Works of Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate ..., page 241:

     The Roman soldier found Me lying dead, my crown about my brows, […]

   • 1879, The Living Age, page 727:

     She looked about her again, and at last there he was, descending the steep path toward the station. He was half a mile off, and before she could decide what to do, a train came up and stopped.

   • 1886, Duncan Keith, A history of Scotland: civil and ecclesiastical from the earliest times to the death of David I, 1153, volume 1:

     Nothing daunted, the fleet put to sea, and after sailing about the island for some time, a landing was effected in the west of Munster.

   • 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:

     The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. […] Roaring, leaping, pouncing, the tempest raged about the wanderers, drowning and blotting out their forms with sandy spume.

   • 1900, William John Tossell, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Ohio Circuit Courts...: Ohio Circuit Decisions, page 581:

     There is no controversy […] that the plaintiff […] fell into the ditch and was severely injured; [and] that the defendant or its agents left no railing about the excavation : And it quite clearly appears that a person coming from the house of the plaintiff, as she did, to cross the pavement in front of her lot, could not see any light or other signal to warn her of danger […]

   • 1905, The Delineator, page 258:

     She looked about her. Desolation everywhere - on the dust-encrusted windows, on the discolored walls, the rotten planks of the floor, the fallen bricks of the fireplace - desolation utter and complete.

   • 2016 August 24 [????], Johanna Spyri, Moni the Goat Boy and Other Stories: Moni the Goahout a Friend; The Little Runaway, anboco, →ISBN:

     As soon as church was out a group of people gathered about her, all curious to hear how she was getting on with the boy.

2. Over or upon different parts of; through or over in various directions; here and there in; to and fro in; throughout. [from ca. 1150–1350]^[2]

   Rubbish was strewn about the place.

   The children were running about the room.

   He was well known about town.

   • 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 3, lines 30–35:

     [I]n likeneſs of a Dove / The Spirit deſcended, while the Fathers voice / From Heav'n pronounc'd him his beloved Son. / That heard the Adverſary, who roving ſtill / About the world, at that aſſembly fam'd / Would not be laſt, […]

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     He had been known, during several years, as a small poet; and some of the most savage lampoons which were handed about the coffeehouses were imputed to him.

   • 1598, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost:

     where lies thy pain? And where my liege's? all about the breast.

   • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay Baron Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, page 153:

     Some Roman Catholics about the court had, indiscreetly or artfully, told all, and more than all, that they knew. The Tory Churchmen waited anxiously for fuller information.

   • 1857, George Borrow?, The Quarterly Review, page 488:

     She travelled about the country with a donkey and cart, selling silk and linen goods. Her great stature enabled her to be her own protector, and any liberties which were attempted to be taken with herself or her wares were sure to be answered by a beating.

   • 2022 November 13 [????], Edith Nesbit, The Collected Works of Edith Nesbit, DigiCat:

     […] to wander about the old place, climb the old walls, and explore the old passages, always dreaming of the days when the castle was noisy with men-at-arms, and gay with knights and ladies.

3. Indicates that something will happen very soon; indicates a plan or intention to do something.
   1. (with 'to' and verb infinitive) See about to.
   2. (with present participle, obsolete or dialect) On the point or verge of.
      • 1866, Charles Daniel Drake, A treatise on the law of suits by attachment in the United States, page 80:

        [It] was held, that the latter requirement was fulfilled by an affidavit declaring that "the defendant was about leaving the State permanently."

4. Concerning; with regard to; on account of; on the subject of. [from ca. 1150–1350]^[2]

   Synonyms: apropos, as for; see also Thesaurus:about

   He talked a lot about his childhood.

   We must do something about this problem.

   He is very mad about all the pranks.

   • c. 1597-1602, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor:

     Doe you meane to stoppe any of Williams wages, about the Sacke he lost the other day?

   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes:

     I already have made way / To some Philistian lords, with whom to treat / About thy ransom.

   • 1856, Voltaire, Philosophical dictionary:

     There have been violent quarrels about whether the whole is greater than a part.

   • 1858, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, page 13:

     [It was doubtful that] twenty governments, divided by quarrels about precedence, quarrels about territory, quarrels about trade, quarrels about religion, could long act together in perfect harmony.

   • 1860, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:

     "I'll tell you what, Fanny: she must have her way about Sarah Thompson. You can see her to-morrow and tell her so."

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 2008, Sean O'Neill, Cultural Contact and Linguistic Relativity Among the Indians of Northwestern California, University of Oklahoma Press, →ISBN, page 31:

     Lucy Thompson, a Yurok woman who wrote a book about her experiences in the early twentieth century, reported that bilingualism was especially common at the religious dances, where neighboring groups often poured in from distant villages speaking utterly different languages.

   • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:

     Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.

   • 2013 September 5, Simon Gray, The Complete Smoking Diaries, Granta Books, →ISBN:

     ... look at it properly, her hands are the worst thing about her, visibly, anyway - they're filthy, as are the fingernails, broken and jagged and dark yellow from nicotine, the nicotine stain seems to go right into the palm […]

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Well, let’s not talk about yesterday.

   • 2016 October 14, David J. Leonard, Kimberly B. George, Wade Davis, Football, Culture and Power, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 187:

     [F]ootball is about more than making plays on the field. It is about making them off the field as well. Our commitment to fans and the communities that support us does not end when the final seconds tick off the game clock […]

   • 2021 October 7, Erica S. Simmons, Nicholas Rush Smith, Rethinking Comparison: Innovative Methods for Qualitative Political Inquiry, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 272:

     ... something particularly imaginative about comparative work, however one construes the term “comparison.” […]

5. Concerned or occupied with; engaged in; intent on. [from ca. 1150–1350]^[2]

   just going about their business

   Have you much hay about? (Chester) ― Have you much in the process of making?^[4]

   “What’s Mary doin'?” “Oh! oo’s about th’ butter.” (Chester) ― “What’s Mary doing?” “Oh, she’s making the butter.”^[4]

   • 1765, James HARRIS (Author of “Hermes.”.), Hermes, Or a Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Universal Grammar ... Second Edition, Etc, page 376:

     ... these Machines ... must be the Work of one, who knew what he was about. And what is it, to work, and know what one is about? Tis to have an Idea of what one is doing; to possess A FORM INTERNAL, correspondent to the EXTERNAL, […]

   • 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, Luke, ii, 49

     And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

   • 2013 March 14, Parks and Recreation, season 5, episode 16, Bailout:

     RON: And I’ll have the number 8.

     WAITER: That’s a party platter, it serves 12 people.

     RON: I know what I’m about, son.

   • 2018 February 7, Ana Vega, Noonity, Ana Vega, page 62:

     I really want to know what he's about, so I've arranged a date with him to hear him out.

6. Within or in the immediate neighborhood of; in contiguity or proximity to; near, as to place. [from ca. 1350–1470]^[2]

   I can’t find my reading glasses, but they must be somewhere about the house.

   John’s in the garden, probably somewhere about the woodshed.

   • 1777, Edward Ledwich, Antiquitates Sarisburienses: Or, The History and Antiquities of Old and New Sarum, page 7:

     Carausius was born of mean parentage about Cleves in Germany, he rose in the Army by his bravery, and was appointed [...] Governor of Bononia or Bolougne in France, and Admiral  […]

   • 1851, J. H. Clark, The Songs of the Seasons, and Wild Flowers of the Months: Or, the British Wild Flowers Familiarly Described Under the Months in which They Bloom and the Localities in which They Grow, page 53:

     The Saffron Crocus (C. sativus) grows in meadows about Essex, where it is cultivated for its fragrant stigmas, which constitute saffron.

   • 1864, Zoologist: A Monthly Journal of Natural History, page 9108:

     ... small dipterous insects, which are abundant about the heaps of sea-weed.

   • 1868, William Rossiter, The Elements of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, page 14:

     […] if there be any number of equiangular triangles, the sides about the equal angles are proportionals.

7. On one’s person; nearby the person. [from ca. 1350–1470]^[2]

   I had no weapon about me but a stick.

   The policy covers all belongings and other personal things that somebody can carry about them.

   • 1837, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], Ernest Maltravers […] , volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, book I, page 16:

     At this assurance the traveller rose, and approached Alice softly. He drew away her hands from her face, when she said gently, "Have you much money about you?" / "Oh the mercenary baggage!" said the traveller to himself; and then replied aloud, "Why, pretty one?—Do you sell your kisses so high, then?"

8. (figurative) On or near (one's person); attached as an attribute to; in the makeup of, or at the command of. [from ca. 1350–1470]^[2]

   He has his wits about him.

   There was an air of confidence about the woman.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. […] A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes. […] But withal there was a perceptible acumen about the man which was puzzling in the extreme.

   • 1953, Oliver Wendell Holmes (Jr.), Holmes-Laski Letters: 1926-1935:

     And there is a mature wisdom about him which, without being new, is newly refreshed. I did not know how profoundly my emotional loyalties were engaged to him until these days. Our plans are simple. We stay here until Thursday; then Amherst […]

   • 2017 November 11, Linn Edwards, Food Frenzy, JMS Books LLC, →ISBN:

     ... there was a mature air about him that also suggested vacationing professional. He wore a button-down, collared shirt open a few more interesting buttons than most, revealing a small spatter of blondish-reddish hair on a broad chest […]

• (Indicates that something will happen very soon): In modern English, always followed by an infinitive that begins with to ("I am about to bathe"); see about to. In the past, it was possible to instead follow the about with the present participle ("I am about swimming"), but this format is no longer used or widely understood.
• (concerning): Used as a function word to indicate what is dealt with as the object of thought, feeling, or action.

about (not comparable)

1. On all sides, or in every or any direction from a point; around. [from before 1150^[2]]

   I looked about at the scenery that surrounded me.

   • 1599, Robert Greene, The Comical History of Alphonsus King of Aragon, III-ii:

     Why, then, I see, ’tis time to look about, / When every boy Alphonsus dares control.

   • 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest:

     all the blessings / Of a glad father compass thee about

   • 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:

     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.

   • 1716, Virgil, translated by Dryden, The Works of Virgil ... Translated Into English Verse; by Mr. Dryden, page 110:

     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; […]

2. Here and there; around; in one place and another; up and down. [from before 1150^[2]]

   Bits of old machinery were lying about.

   • 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:

     ... 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.

   • 2013 December 9, Michael Phillips, The Sword, the Garden, and the King, Rosetta Books, →ISBN:

     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.

3. From one place or position to another in succession; indicating repeated movement or activity.

   walking about;  rushing about;  jumping about;  thrashing about

   • 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.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     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, […].

   • 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, page 271:

     He bustled about and about, speaking to every one, but declined listening for a single moment to any.

   • 2008 January 29, Emile Zola, The Beast Within, Penguin, →ISBN:

     She was [...] moving furniture about, and marching into the apartment at the front even before the tenants had left.

4. Indicating unproductive or unstructured activity.

   messing about;  fooling about;  loafing about

5. Nearly; approximately; with close correspondence in quality, manner, degree, quantity, or time; almost. [from before 1150^[2]]

   It’s about as cold as it was last winter.

   He owes me about three hundred dollars.

   Dinner’s about ready.

   I was so scared, I about fainted.

   I’ll see you at about 4 o'clock; I'll see you about a year from now.

   The next conference will be held about a year from now in a venue about six miles from here.

   • 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):

     Therefore I know she is about my height.

   • 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

   • 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, Exodus, ix, 18

     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.

   • 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, Exodus, xxxii,28:

     And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “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. […]”

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 1863, Virginia Penny, The Employments of Women: A Cyclopaedia of Woman's Work, page 480:

     […] 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, […]

   • 1867, The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, page 745:

     [H]e is about the most ignorant Rector within the four seas.

   • 1945, Journal of the United States Artillery, page 49:

     The civilian proved to be a boy of about sixteen in knee pants.

   • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     [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,  […] .

   • 2013 10, Joelle Charbonneau, Skating Under the Wire: A Mystery, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 138:

     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?"

6. Near; in the vicinity. [from ca. 1350–1470^[2]]
   • 1879, Scribner's Monthly, an Illustrated Magazine for the People, page 212:

     I looked round at the people standing about, and observed them curiously in their peculiar relation to it all.

7. To a reversed order, direction, or condition; half round; in (or to, or from) the opposite direction. [from ca. 1350–1470^[2]]

   to face about;  to turn oneself about

   • 1888, Horatio Alger, The Errand Boy:

     Mr. Carter, whose back had been turned, turned about and faced his niece.

   • 1995, Alan Ryan, John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 383:

     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.

   • 2017 October 16, Jeannie Troll, A Clever Girl: Part One, Page Publishing Inc, →ISBN:

     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.

   1. (nautical) To the opposite tack: see go about. [from late 15th c.^[2]]

      We went about and headed offshore.

      • 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:

        Before he goeth about, he will shoot off a piece; and, being about, will put forth another light, upon the poop […]

8. (obsolete or rare) In succession, one after another. [from before 1150^[2]]
   • 1818, James Hogg, published in The Scots Magazine, Vol. 86, p. 218, "On the Life and Writings of James Hogg" [1] [Quoted in the OED]

     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.

9. (obsolete or rare) In rotation or revolution. [from before 1150^[2]]
   • 1908 [c. 1606], William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Coriolanus, Oppidan Library, page 96:

     What an Arme he has, he turn'd me about with his finger and his thumbe, as one would set up a Top.

   • 1897 [c. 1610], William Shakespeare, The Tempest, ed. by F.S. Boas, page 27:

     Prithee, do not turn me about; my stomach is not constant.

   • 1902, Mary Mapes Dodge, St. Nicholas, page 1095:

     "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."

   • 2012 02, Edmund C. Schimek, A Small Time in Space, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 12:

     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.

10. (possibly obsolete, outside set phrases) In the course of events.

    to bring about, to come about

11. (archaic) In circuit or circumference; circularly. [from ca. 1350–1470^[2]]

    The island was a mile about, and a third of a mile across.

    • c. 1597-1602, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor:

      Indeede I am in the waste two yards about.

    • 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:

      ... a more easie way, though it were farther about.

    • 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:

      ... the sure way, though most about, to make gold, is to know the causes of the several natures before rehearsed,  […]

12. (archaic) By a circuitous way; circuitously.
    • 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:

      God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea.

• (many senses): around

about (not comparable)

1. Moving around or in motion; astir.

   out and about;  up and about

   After my bout with Guillan-Barre Syndrome, it took me 6 months to be up and about again.

   • [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:

     'John, I have observed that you are often out and about of nights, sometimes as late as half past seven or eight. […]'

   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet:

     About, my Braine!

   • c. 1597-1602, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor:

     About, about; Search Windsor Castle, elves, within and out.

   • 1828 [1663], Samuel Pepys, Diary, page 95:

     ... the building of St. James's by my Lord St. Albans, which is now about (and which the City stomach I perceive highly, but dare not oppose it,) were it now to be done, it would not be done for a million of money.

2. In existence; being in evidence; apparent.

   This idea has been about for a while but has only recently become fashionable.

   • 1975, IPC Building & Contract Journals Ltd, Highways & road construction, volume 43:

     To my mind, transportation engineering is similar to flying in the 1930s — it has been about for some time but it has taken the present economic jolt to shake it out of its infancy, in the same way that the war started the development of flying to its current stage.

   • 2005, IDG Communications, Digit, numbers 89-94:

     Although it has been about for some time now, I like the typeface Sauna.

   • 2006, Great Britain Parliament: House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, Energy: Meeting With Malcolm Wicks MP,

     Is not this sudden interest in capturing CO₂ — and it has been about for a little while — simply another hidey-hole for the government to creep into?

3. Near; in the vicinity or neighbourhood.

   I had my keys just a minute ago, so they must be about somewhere.

   Watch out, there's a thief about.

• (moving around): around, active, mobile, astir
• (in existence): around

about (third-person singular simple present abouts, present participle abouting, simple past and past participle abouted)

1. (nautical, uncommon) To change the course of (a ship) to the other tack; to bring (a ship) about.
   • 1694, John Martyn (Londres), James Allestry (Londres), Henry Oldenburg, Philosophical Transactions, Giving Some Accompt of the Present Undertakings, Studies and Labors of the Ingenious in Many Considerable Parts of the World, page 984:

     The Channel at Archer's Hope Point lies close by the Shoar, and makes such an Angle there by reason of Hog Island, that going up or down the River, let the Wind be where it will, they must there bring the contrary Tack on Board, and generally when they About the Ship as they call it, they are so nigh the Shoar, that a Man may almost fling a Finger-stone on Board.

   • 1937, United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Amending the Merchant Marine Act of 1936: Hearing Before the Committee on Commerce and the Committee on Education and Labor, United States Senate, Seventy-fifth Congress, Second[-third] Session, on S. 3078, a Bill to Amend the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, and for Other Purposes ..., page 456:

     Mr. Whalen:] they had "abouted ship." They had changed the course to put her into the wind—

   • 1950, Sea Breezes:

     ... and we were abouting ship every watch or so.

2. (uncommon, possibly humorous) To about-face (turn 180 degrees, like a soldier).
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:about.

See also: Category:English phrasal verbs formed with "about"

• “about”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “about”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• Touba, Tuoba, U-boat

• öbaut

Unadapted borrowing from English about

• IPA^(key): /ˈøbɑut/, [ˈø̞bɑ̝ut̪]
• IPA^(key): /ˈəbɑu̯t/, [ˈəbɑ̝u̯t̪]
• IPA^(key): /ˈɑbɑut/, [ˈɑ̝bɑ̝ut̪]
• Rhymes: -øbɑut

about (slang)

1. about (around, approximately, roughly)

   Synonyms: noin, suunnilleen

about m (plural abouts)

1. (technical) the extremity of a metallic or wooden element or piece

• “about”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• bouta, tabou