Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb Approximately; nearly.
- adverb Almost.
- adverb To a reversed position or direction.
- adverb In no particular direction.
- adverb All around; on every side.
- adverb In the area or vicinity; near.
- adverb In succession; one after another.
- adverb On the verge of doing something; presently going to do something. Used with the infinitive.
- adverb Usage Problem Used to show determination or intention in negative constructions with an infinitive.
- preposition On all sides of; surrounding.
- preposition In the vicinity of; around.
- preposition Almost the same as; close to; near.
- preposition In reference to; relating to; concerned with.
- preposition In the act or process of.
- preposition In the possession or innate character of.
- adjective Moving here and there; astir.
- adjective Being in evidence or existence.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Around; in circuit; circularly; round and round; on every side; in every direction; all around.
- Circuitously; in a roundabout course.
- Hither and thither; to and fro; up and down; here and there.
- Near in time, number, quantity, quality, or degree; nearly; approximately; almost.
- [In contracts made on the New York Stock Exchange, the term about means “not more than three days” when applied to time, and “not more than 10 per cent.” when used with reference to a number of shares.]
- In readiness; intending; going: after the verb to be.
- At work; astir; begin in earnest: used with the force of an imperative.
- Nautical, to take a different direction, as a vessel in tacking.
- On the outside or outer surface of; surrounding; around; all around.
- Near to in place; close to; at: as, about the door. See the adv., 4.
- Over or upon different parts; here and there; backward and forward; in various directions.
- Near or on one's person; with; at hand.
- In relation to; respecting; in regard to; on account of.
- Concerned in; engaged in: as, what is he about?
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- preposition Around; all round; on every side of.
- preposition In the immediate neighborhood of; in contiguity or proximity to; near, as to place; by or on (one's person).
- preposition Over or upon different parts of; through or over in various directions; here and there in; to and fro in; throughout.
- preposition Near; not far from; -- determining approximately time, size, quantity.
- preposition In concern with; engaged in; intent on.
- preposition On the point or verge of; going; in act of.
- preposition Concerning; with regard to; on account of; touching.
- adverb On all sides; around.
- adverb In circuit; circularly; by a circuitous way; around the outside.
- adverb Here and there; around; in one place and another.
- adverb Nearly; approximately; with close correspondence, in quality, manner, degree, etc.; ; -- also of quantity, number, time.
- adverb To a reserved position; half round; in the opposite direction; on the opposite tack
- adverb to cause to take place; to accomplish.
- adverb to occur; to take place. See under
Come . - adverb to undertake; to arrange; to prepare.
- adverb in every direction around.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I, too, lament this..and will be doing something about it like I mentioned last month..about reading more complete series..which is what my "older" books mentioned above will consist of.
Today in Fantasy: March 21, 2010 Jeff C 2010
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When in the late summer of 2008 he first publicly floated a trial balloon about seeking a third term, he did it by saying he\'d have to \ "seriously think about\" running if the Council decided to upend the two-term constraint.
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So when I say that walls need to come down, I mean that we all need to be more honest about what our jobs mean, why we work and how they can be improved, which means tolerance for talking *about* work in a social context.
Workplace Chatter in the Age of Tweets « shattersnipe: malcontent & rainbows 2009
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(Neo-Meinongians might also want to say that on their view, ˜3 is prime™ is about the number 3, but in saying this, they would be using ˜about™ in a way that doesn't entail the existence of 3.)
Platonism in Metaphysics Balaguer, Mark 2009
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If you LISTEN to what he says you will hear loud and clear how much he cares about the state of this country and how he wants to provide solutions to the issues we face, including tax relief, healthcare for everyone and addressing the disaster that Bill Clinton ** knew about and did nothing about** known as global warming.
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Ermmmmm..i think you were talking about...about..about that game.
THE GAME princesa 2007
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But then, I began having doubts about my former side, when I noticed that conservative magazines were full of articles talking at length *about* liberals, but rarely a quote *by* one, and when there were, a sentence fragment, often proving to be taken out of context themselves.
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I was about to host the meeting of my "Movie Group" about a dozen people who gather monthly to watch together some film of substance and then discuss it afterwards over a pot-luck dinner.
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Basically, they'll talk about that and cook, and they'll talk aboutߞ
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Yeah, people here think about it all the time, talk about it, but only with those they trust implicitly, but it's damned hard to do.
TEDBUNDY Michaud, S G & Aynesworth H 1989
bilby commented on the word about
Tag aarrgghhness!
August 13, 2009
reesetee commented on the word about
Holy Tagging Madness, Batman.
August 13, 2009
Telofy commented on the word about
We're under attag!
August 13, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word about
All right. Who's the spammer?!
*prepares the panzer division of dachshunds*
August 13, 2009
Prolagus commented on the word about
I think we have already punished him/her.
August 13, 2009
Prolagus commented on the word about
Cf. admire. It's erich13.
August 13, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word about
Oh.
*calms barking dachshunds by tossing non-chocolate fufluns*
August 13, 2009
dontcry commented on the word about
Whew. Returns to porch with lemonade and Ritz crackers.
August 14, 2009
reesetee commented on the word about
Dang. I missed it all.
August 14, 2009
oroboros commented on the word about
What the hell was that all about?
November 25, 2013
fbharjo commented on the word about
trying to pick a fight? a+bout?
November 25, 2013