Also spelled abaht and aboot

US /əˈbɐʊ̯t/ UK /əˈbaʊ̯t/
adv prep Freq #46

Meanings

  1. 1
    prep

    on the subject of; concerning

    We talked about our holiday plans.

  2. 2
    adv

    a little more or less than a number; approximately

    Last night's bill was about twenty dollars.

  3. 3
    adv

    in many directions or in different parts of a place

    Clothes were lying about the room.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 prep · on the subject of; concerning concerningregarding
2 adv · a little more or less than... approximatelyaroundroughly
3 adv · in many directions or in... around
Opposites
malapropos

Common collocations

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *ana- Proto-West Germanic *ana- Old English on-? Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bi Proto-West Germanic *bī Proto-West Germanic *bi- Proto-Indo-European *úd Proto-Germanic *ūt Proto-West Germanic *ūtō Proto-West Germanic *ūtan Proto-West Germanic *biūtan Old English būtan Old English onbūtan Middle English aboute English about Preposition and adverb from Middle English aboute, abouten, from Old English abūtan, onbūtan, from on (“in, on”) + būtan (“outside of”), i…

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Topics

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