Emily Dickinson Lexicon

A-BOUT', prep. [Sax. abutan, onbutan, embutan, about, around; on or emb, coinciding with Gr. αμφι, and butan, without, (see But,) literally, around, on the outside.]

1. Around; on the exterior part or surface. Bind them about thy neck. – Prov. iii. 3. Isa. 1. Hence,
2. Near to in place, with the sense of circularity. Get you up from about the tabernacle. – Num. xvi.
3. Near to in time. He went out about the third hour. – Matt. xxi. 3.
4. Near to in action, or near to the performance of some act. Paul was about to open his mouth. – Acts xviii. 14. They were about to flee out of the ship. – Acts xxvii. 30.
5. Near to the person; appended to the clothes. Every thing about him is in order. Is your snuff-box about you? From nearness on all sides, the transition is easy to, a concern with. Hence,
6. Concerned in, engaged in, relating to, respecting; as, what is he about? I must be about my father's business. – Luke ii. 49. The painter is not to take so much pains about the drapery as about the face. – Dryden.
7. In compass or circumference; two yards about the stern.
8. Near to in number or quantity. There fell that day about three thousand men. – Ex. xxxii.