be around
Appearance
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]be around (third-person singular simple present is around, present participle being around, simple past was around, past participle been around)
- (idiomatic, intransitive, stative) To be alive, existent, or present.
- I'll be around for another hour or so.
- This restaurant has been around since 1938.
- 1918, Booth Tarkington, chapter 34, in The Magnificent Ambersons:
- Well, sir, you remember this young Georgie sort of disappeared, after his grandfather's death, and nobody seemed to know much what had become of him—though I did hear, once or twice, that he was still around somewhere.
- 2005 May 25, Ed Levine, “It's All in How the Dog Is Served”, in New York Times, retrieved 1 Jan. 2009:
- The New York-style hot dog I love has been around for well over a hundred years.
- (idiomatic, transitive) To be near; to socialize with.
- You're fun to be around.
Usage notes
[edit]- When this expression has the sense of "to be alive" or "to be existent," it is often used with still.
- The related form to have been around can have a distinctly different meaning.