thereabout, adv.
(ðɛərəˈbaʊt, ˈðɛərəbaʊt)
Forms: see there and about.
[OE. þǽr ab{uacu}tan, two words, viz. þǽr, there 17 and ab{uacu}tan, about.]
1. About (orig. outside) or near that place: = thereabouts 1.
| a 925 O.E. Chron. an. 917 (Parker MS.) æt Hocneratune, and þær onbutan. c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives xxv. 595. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark xiv. 69 Heo ongan cweðan to þam þe ðar abutan stodon. 1131 O.E. Chron. an. 1124 (Laud MS.) Ealla þa casteles ða þær abuton wæron. c 1290 Beket 2126 in S. Eng. Leg. 167 And al round þare a-bouten it lay. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) Pref. 3 Ierusalem, and the haly placez þat er þare aboute. 1451 Paston Lett. I. 196 To all yowr frendes and tenauntes ther abowtyn. 1517 R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 56 The Cityes in the Countre ther a bowght. 1562 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 220 To remane within the samin and foure mylis thairabout. 1692 Ray Disc. ii. v. (1732) 215 The Alterration of the sea thereabout. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. iii. 120 Quartered in the different villages thereabout. 1908 [Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 67 From somewhere thereabout our garden gravel came. |
† b. Around that object (a pillar, or the like).
| 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 1136 He bad bulden of marbre A piler..& þat þei wrouhten a wrytte & writen þer aboute. |
c. fig. About that; near to that state or action: cf. thereabouts 1 c. Obs. or rare.
| 1664 Dryden Rival-Ladies iv. iii, Amid... I feel already My stout Heart melts. Hip. Oh! Are you thereabout? |
2. a. About or somewhere near that time or date. b. About that number, quantity, size, space of time, etc. = thereabouts 2. (Chiefly after or.)
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8984 Hit biuel þer aboute þat þe erl thebaud..destourbede þe peys. 1465 J. Paston in P. Lett. II. 236 The xxii yere of Kyng Herry or ther abought. 1534 in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., Var. Coll. IV. 217 Amountyng to the some of 30l. or therabout. 1564 Brief Exam. *****ij b, Referred to the Prophetes tymes, and thereabout. 1612 Davies Why Ireland, etc. (1787) 15 A company of volunteers, in number four hundred, or there⁓about. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 51 At the distance of less than two hundred years, or thereabout. 1908 [Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 369 She has walked 221,490 miles, or thereabout. |
3. About, concerning, or with reference to that matter or business; thereanent. to go thereabout or be thereabout, to occupy or busy oneself therewith: cf. about B. 10, 11. Now arch. or rare.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22885 (Edin.) Þe mar man swink him þar aboutin Fra sped þe ferre he sal ben outin. c 1350 Will. Palerne 972 But i were busi þer a-boute to blame i were. c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 129 What wol ye dyne? I wol go ther-aboute. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 2698 Thar-obout wil i be bayn. c 1440 Jacob's Well 56 Here resonable expensys þere abowte awȝte ferst to be takyn vp. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 51 All that wyll do theyr besynes there aboute. 1534 More Treat. Passion Wks. 1289/2 How much payn so euer himselfe tooke thereabout. 1611 Bible Luke xxiv. 4 They were much perplexed thereabout. 1657 W. Rand tr. Gassendi's Life Peiresc ii. 77 Peireskius..congratulated with him thereabout. |