Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - around

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. Note: 'Around' is an adverb and a preposition. In British English, the word ‘round’ is often used instead. 'Around' is often used with verbs of movement, such as ‘walk’ and ‘drive’, and also in phrasal verbs such as ‘get around’ and ‘hand around’. 1. To be positioned around a place or object means to surround it or be on all sides of it. To move around a place means to go along its edge, back to your starting point. She looked at the papers around her... ...a prosperous suburb built around a new mosque. PREP • Around is also an adverb. ...a village with a rocky river, a ruined castle and hills all around... The Memorial seems almost ugly, dominating the landscape for miles around. ADV: n ADV 2. If you move around a corner or obstacle, you move to the other side of it. If you look around a corner or obstacle, you look to see what is on the other side. The photographer stopped clicking and hurried around the corner... I peered around the edge of the shed–there was no sign of anyone else. PREP 3. If you turn around, you turn so that you are facing in the opposite direction. I turned around and wrote the title on the blackboard... He straightened up slowly and spun around on the stool to face us. ADV: ADV after v 4. If you move around a place, you travel through it, going to most of its parts. If you look around a place, you look at every part of it. I’ve been walking around Moscow and the town is terribly quiet... He glanced discreetly around the room at the other people. PREP • Around is also an adverb. He backed away from the edge, looking all around at the flat horizon. ADV: ADV after v 5. If someone moves around a place, they move through various parts of that place without having any particular destination. They milled around the ballroom with video cameras. PREP • Around is also an adverb. My mornings are spent rushing around after him. ADV: ADV after v 6. If you go around to someone’s house, you visit them. She helped me unpack my things and then we went around to see the other girls. ADV: ADV after v 7. You use around in expressions such as sit around and hang around when you are saying that someone is spending time in a place and not doing anything very important. After breakfast the next morning they sat around for an hour discussing political affairs. ADV: ADV after v • Around is also a preposition. He used to skip lessons and hang around the harbor with some other boys. PREP 8. If you move things around, you move them so that they are in different places. She moved things around so the table was beneath the windows. ADV: ADV after v 9. If a wheel or object turns around, it turns. The boat started to spin around in the water. ADV: ADV after v 10. You use around to say that something happens in different parts of a place or area. Elephants were often to be found in swamp in eastern Kenya around the Tana River. ...pests and diseases around the garden. PREP • Around is also an adverb. Giovanni has the best Parma ham for miles around. ADV: ADV after v, n ADV 11. If someone or something is around, they exist or are present in a place. The blackbird had a quick, wary look in case the cat was anywhere around... Just having lots of people around that you can talk to is important... ADV 12. The people around you are the people who you come into contact with, especially your friends and relatives, and the people you work with. We change our behaviour by observing the behaviour of those around us... Those around her would forgive her for weeping. PREP 13. If something such as a film, a discussion, or a plan is based around something, that thing is its main theme. ...the gentle comedy based around the Larkin family... The discussion centered around four subjects. PREP 14. You use around in expressions such as this time around or to come around when you are describing something that has happened before or things that happen regularly. Senator Bentsen has declined to get involved this time around... When July Fourth comes around, the residents of Columbia City throw a noisy party. ADV: n ADV, ADV after v 15. When you are giving measurements, you can use around to talk about the distance along the edge of something round. She was 40 inches around the hips. PREP 16. Around means approximately. My salary was around ?19,000 plus a car and expenses... = about ADV • Around is also a preposition. He expects the elections to be held around November. PREP 17. Around about means approximately. (SPOKEN) There is a Green party but it only scored around about 10 percent in the vote... PREP-PHRASE 18. You say all around to indicate that something affects all parts of a situation or all members of a group. He compared the achievements of the British and the French during 1916 and concluded that the latter were better all around. PHRASE: cl PHR 19. If someone has been around, they have had a lot of experience of different people and situations. (INFORMAL) PHRASE 20. the other way around: see way