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About   /əbˈaʊt/   Listen
preposition
About  prep.  
1.
Around; all round; on every side of. "Look about you." "Bind them about thy neck."
2.
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?"
3.
Over or upon different parts of; through or over in various directions; here and there in; to and fro in; throughout. "Lampoons... were handed about the coffeehouses." "Roving still about the world."
4.
Near; not far from; determining approximately time, size, quantity. "To-morrow, about this time." "About my stature." "He went out about the third hour." Note: This use passes into the adverbial sense.
5.
In concern with; engaged in; intent on. "I must be about my Father's business."
6.
Before a verbal noun or an infinitive: On the point or verge of; going; in act of. "Paul was now aboutto open his mouth."
7.
Concerning; with regard to; on account of; touching. "To treat about thy ransom." "She must have her way about Sarah."


adverb
About  adv.  
1.
On all sides; around. "'Tis time to look about."
2.
In circuit; circularly; by a circuitous way; around the outside; as, a mile about, and a third of a mile across.
3.
Here and there; around; in one place and another. "Wandering about from house to house."
4.
Nearly; approximately; with close correspondence, in quality, manner, degree, etc.; as, about as cold; about as high; also of quantity, number, time. "There fell... about three thousand men."
5.
To a reserved position; half round; in the opposite direction; on the opposite tack; as, to face about; to turn one's self about.
To bring about, to cause to take place; to accomplish.
To come about, to occur; to take place. See under Come.
To go about, To set about, to undertake; to arrange; to prepare. "Shall we set about some revels?"
Round about, in every direction around.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"About" Quotes from Famous Books



... Almighty God for the mercies of the day. Such fervent prayers for the President, for the hearing of his Proclamation by all in bonds, and for the ending of the war and slavery, were seldom, if ever, heard before. About one hour was spent in singing and prayer. Those waters surely never echoed with such ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 11, No. 63, January, 1863 - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various
... at the recollection. "It's a new one for Morrison to meet a girl who doesn't kowtow. He's a very great personage in his line, and he can't help knowing it. The very last word on Lord-knows-what-all in the art business is what one Felix Morrison says about it. He's an eight-cylinder fascinator too, into the bargain. Mostly he makes me sore, but when I think about him straight, I wonder how he manages to keep on being as decent as he is—he's really a ...
— The Bent Twig • Dorothy Canfield
... herself up and, chilling her expression still further, perhaps because she was still uneasy about the Prince's ...
— Swann's Way - (vol. 1 of Remembrance of Things Past) • Marcel Proust
... fire' has never been defined," says Mr. Mivart. Perhaps not. There are some things which, for practical purposes, do not need definition, and fire is one of them. Nor is it greatly to the purpose to say that "Saint Augustine distinctly declares our ignorance about it." Saint Augustine was not God Almighty. Ample set-offs to this Father may be found in the pages of Dr. Pusey's What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment? Besides, if fire does not mean fire, if torment does not mean torment, and everlasting does not mean everlasting, perhaps hell ...
— Flowers of Freethought - (Second Series) • George W. Foote
... says the author on the margin, "you that are churls to your godly relations." For this widow felt sure that her husband had been taken from her because of her cruel behaviour to him. Her past unnatural carriages toward her husband now rent the very caul of her heart in sunder. And, again and again, about that same time strange dreams would sometimes visit her. Dreams such as this. She would see her husband in a place of bliss with a harp in his hand, standing and playing upon it before One that sat on a throne with a rainbow round His head. She saw also ...
— Bunyan Characters (Second Series) • Alexander Whyte


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