about adverb 1 more or less a particular number or amount; approximately approximate1: I live about 10 miles away. | round about (=used when guessing a exact number or amount): We left the restaurant at round about 10.30. 2 in many different directions within a place or in different parts of a place: Cushions were scattered about on the chairs. 3 near to you or in the same place as you: Is Derrick about? There's a phone call for him. | Quick! Let's go while there's no-one about. 4 there's a lot of sth about/there's not much of sth about especially spoken used to say that something is very common, or that not much of it exists or is available: I hope she hasn't caught that flu bug. There's a lot of it about at the moment. 5 informal almost: The food's about ready. 6 that's about it/all informal used to tell someone that you have told them everything you know: He was a quiet chap, married with kids. That's about it really. 7 in the opposite direction that you were facing before: He quickly turned about. home adverbs