About

1about

adverb \ə-ˈbau̇t\

: almost or nearly

—used to indicate that a number, amount, time, etc., is not exact or certain

: very close to doing something

Full Definition of ABOUT

1

a :  reasonably close to <about a year ago>

b :  almost <about starved>

c :  on the verge of —usually used with be and a following infinitive <is about to join the army> —used with a negative to express intention or determination <not about to quit>

2
:  on all sides :  around
3

a :  in rotation

b :  around the outside

4
:  here and there
5
:  in the vicinity :  near
6
:  in the opposite direction <face about> <the other way about>
See about defined for English-language learners »
See about defined for kids »

Examples of ABOUT

  1. We’re about ready to go.
  2. This one is about as bad as that one.
  3. That’s about all I know at this point.
  4. It’s about time to go.
  5. That’s about all the time we have.
  6. We tried just about everything we could think of.

Origin of ABOUT

Middle English, from Old English abūtan, from 1a- + būtan outside — more at but

First Known Use: before 12th century

Related to ABOUT

Synonyms
around, round
Antonyms
exactly, precisely

Rhymes with ABOUT

ablaut, act out, all-out, back out, bailout, bail out, bat out, bawl out, bear out, beat out, blackout, black out, blissed-out, blot out, …

[+]more

2about

preposition

—used to indicate the object of a thought, feeling, or action

—used to indicate the subject of something said or written

: as part of (someone or something)

Full Definition of ABOUT

1
:  in a circle around :  on every side of :  around
2

a :  in the immediate neighborhood of :  near

b :  on or near the person of

c :  in the makeup of <a mature wisdom about him>

d :  at the command of <has his wits about him>

3
:  engaged in <act as if they know what they’re about — T. S. Matthews>
4

a :  with regard to :  concerning <spoke about his past>

b :  concerned with

c :  fundamentally concerned with or directed toward <poker is about money — David Mamet>

5
:  over or in different parts of
See about defined for English-language learners »

Examples of ABOUT

  1. <a poignant story about a young man who goes off to war>
  2. <about the hedge there was a picket fence>

First Known Use of ABOUT

before 12th century

Related to ABOUT

Synonyms
apropos, apropos of, as far as, as for, as regards (also as respects), as to, concerning, of, on, regarding, respecting, touching, toward (or towards), in regard to, in respect to, in view of, with regard to, with respect to

3about

adjective

Definition of ABOUT

1
:  moving from place to place; specifically:  being out of bed
2
:around 2
See about defined for English-language learners »

First Known Use of ABOUT

1815
If you got this far, congratulations.  You may or may not have noticed that this blog goes back to 2000, when I’m pretty sure there wasn’t even a WordPress, and there certainly was no Facebook.  I was an early adopter of Livejournal.  The entries from the distant past that you may come across here are all from the halcyon days of that community and were imported when I moved here. It was a different time, and I was a different man.  There you have it.

 

21 thoughts on “About”

  8. Man, I saw your comment on Scalzi’s blog about not being able to afford more that a single streaming service because your book isn’t selling (whatever that means) and I felt sorry for you, so I was going to offer to pitch in a few bucks for you to afford Netflix along with your Amazon (the Expanse) subscription. That is until I clicked on your “About” link and saw all that weird, pretentious nonsense you posted about the history of the word “About” instead of just saying, “Here’s who I am and here’s how to get ahold of me,” you know, “About ME!” So no, I’m no longer interested in offering financial assistance. Hope you enjoy your trip to Mexico while your book sales languish here in the States. Weird.

    Reply

    • Thanks for thinking of me. Glad you appreciate my sense of humor. If you really wanted to know about me, you could check out my Goodreads bio, my website, or, I dont know, you could read some of this blog. If you actually wanted to help me financially, you could have bought my book, which is also likely full of pretentious nonsense, although it wasn’t copy/pasted from a dictionary website like my About page. Have a wonderful day!

      Reply

      • I did order your book, Atmosphere last night. Looks very interesting. And sorry for the tone; I was shooting for snarky and ended up with a bullseye on nasty. Probably should have used one of those /s thingies at the end. Or maybe kept it all to myself. Shake? 🤝

      • Dear David Scott Moyer and Bob Dye,

        I enjoyed the banter between you two.

        David, your austere “About” page is definitely in very stark contrast to mine, which is highly multifaceted and variegated.

        In any case, thank you for introducing us to all the ways in which one may use or encounter the word “About”.

        In return, I shall reciprocate your showcasing the word “About” with my featuring the word “With” in a highly witty manner at https://soundeagle.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/use-with-caution-or-not-at-all/

        Yours sincerely,
        SoundEagle

  9. Dear David,

    I have become a follower of your blog, for I am impressed by the care with which you have taken in composing the comment that you submitted to my said post entitled “⚠️ Use WITH Caution Or Not At All 📝📜”, where I have reply to you with a highly bespoke comment.

    Wishing you a productive weekend doing or enjoying whatever that satisfies you the most!

    Happy November to you and your family very soon!

    Yours sincerely,
    SoundEagle

    Reply

      • Dear David,

        Your world is not so little after all. I have browsed your other website with a keen eye to savour your artistry and photography.

        By the way, whenever you visit my blog, I would like to recommend using a desktop or laptop computer with a large screen to view the rich multimedia contents available for heightening your multisensory enjoyment at my blog, which could be too powerful and feature-rich for iPad, iPhone, tablet or other portable devices to handle properly or adequately.

        Furthermore, since my intricate blog contains advanced styling and multimedia components plus animations, it is advisable to avoid viewing the contents of my blog using the WordPress Reader, which cannot show many of the advanced features in my posts and pages. It is advisable to read the posts and pages directly in my blog so that you will be able to savour and relish all of the refined and glorious details.

        May you find the rest of 2021 very much to your liking and highly conducive to your writing, reading, thinking and composing whatever posts that take your intellectual fancy or show off your imaginative flight and aesthetic rigour!

        Happy November to you soon!

        Since you like travelling, I would like to sign off with the following statement by Robert Louis Stevenson:

        We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.

        Yours sincerely,
        SoundEagle

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s