The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - about adv.

1) round, around, close by, nearby, on every side: Gather about, for I have something to tell you. 2) approximately, around, nearly, roughly, more or less, almost, close to or upon; give or take: In 1685 London had been, for about half a century, the most populous capital in Europe. Light travels at about 186,000 miles a second. 3) to and fro, up and down, back and forth, here and there, hither and yon, far and wide, hither and thither: He wandered about aimlessly for several days. 4) here and there, far and wide, hither and yon, hither and thither, helter-skelter: My papers were scattered about as if a tornado had struck. 5) around, prevalent, in the air: There is a lot of flu about this year. 6) approximately, nearly, close to, not far from, almost, just about, around: It is about time you telephoned your mother. --prep. 7) around, surrounding, encircling: There is a railing about the monument. 8) round, around, all round, everywhere, in all directions, all over: Please look about the room for my hat. 9) near, nearby, adjacent to, beside, alongside, close by, nigh: There were a lot of trees about the garden. 1) 0 with, at hand, Colloq on: I am sorry, but I haven't my cheque-book about me. 1) 1 touching, concerning, connected with, involving, in or with reference to, in or with regard to, regarding, in the matter of, with respect to, respecting, relative to, relating to, apropos, Formal anent: He wrote a book about the Spanish Armada.