Meaning of about | Babel Free

Definitions

1. over, above, on, upon, atop
2. In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around.
3. Over or upon different parts of; through or over in various directions; here and there in; to and fro in; throughout.
4. envelope
5. Indicates that something will happen very soon; indicates a plan or intention to do something.
6. See about to.
7. small packet; sachet
8. On the point or verge of.
   dialectal, obsolete
9. bed
10. Concerning; with regard to; on account of; on the subject of.
11. Concerned or occupied with; engaged in; intent on.
12. Within or in the immediate neighborhood of; in contiguity or proximity to; near, as to place.
13. On one’s person; nearby the person.
14. On or near (one's person); attached as an attribute to; in the makeup of, or at the command of.
    figuratively

Equivalents

Examples

“The snake was coiled about his ankle.”

“So look about you; know you any here?”

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

“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:[…]”

“[…] 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,[…]”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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[…]”

“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.”

“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.”

“Rubbish was strewn about the place.”

“The children were running about the room.”

“He was well known about town.”

“[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, […]”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“[…] 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.”

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

“He talked a lot about his childhood.”

“We must do something about this problem.”

“He is very mad about all the pranks.”

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

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

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

“[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.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“... 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[…]”

“Well, let’s not talk about yesterday.”

“[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 […]”

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

“just going about their business”

“Have you much hay about?”

Have you much in the process of making?

““What’s Mary doin'?” “Oh! oo’s about th’ butter.””

“What’s Mary doing?” “Oh, she’s making the butter.”

“... 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,[…]”

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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 […]”

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

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

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

“I had no weapon about me but a stick.”

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

“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?"”

“He has his wits about him.”

“There was an air of confidence about the woman.”

“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.”

“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[…]”

“... 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[…]”

CEFR level