Aboot
Full definition of aboot
Preposition
- Eye dialect of about
- circa 1686 Edmond Halley, “An HiÅ¿torical Account of the Trade Winds and MonÅ¿oons, obÅ¿ervable in the Seas between and near the Tropicks, with an attempt to aÅ¿Å¿ign the PhyÅ¿ical CauÅ¿e of the Å¿aid Windsâ€, re-printed in MiÅ¿cellanea CurioÅ¿a: Containing a Collection of Å¿ome of the Principal Phænomena in Nature, Accounted for by the GreateÅ¿t PhiloÅ¿ophers of this Age; Being the MoÅ¿t Valuable DiÅ¿courses, Read and Delivered to the Royal Society, for the Advancement of PhyÅ¿ical and Mathematical Knowledge, As alÅ¿o a Collection of Curious Travels, Voyages, Antiquities, and Natural HiÅ¿tories of Countries; PreÅ¿ented to the Å¿ame Society, second edition, volume I,http://books.google.com/books?id=sb04AAAAMAAJ R. Smith (1708), page 65,The one is, why, notwithÅ¿tanding the narroweÅ¿t part of the Sea between Guinea and Brazile be aboot five hundred Leagues over, yet Ships bound to the Southward, Å¿ometimes, eÅ¿pecially in the Months of July and August, find a great difficulty to paÅ¿s it.
- 1889, Arthur_Conan_Doyle, The Mystery of Cloomber, chapter 8,Maister Fothergill West and the meenister say that I maun tell all I can aboot General Heatherstone and his hoose, but that I maunna say muckle aboot mysel'.
- 1926 August, Zane Grey, “From Missouriâ€, re-printed in The Lawless West,http://books.google.com/books?id=o0brOTCrQ5oC Dorchester Publishing (2007), ISBN 0843957875, page 12,“Heah he reads in a Kansas City paper aboot a schoolteacher wantin’ a job out in dry Arizonie. And he ups an’ writes her an’ gets her a-rarin’ to come. Then, when she writes an’ tells us she’s not over forty, then us quits like yellow coyotes. …â€
Usage notes
This spelling has been used to represent a variety of regional pronunciations, including certain Scottish pronunciations (standard in Scots and frequent in Scottish English), and certain Canadian pronunciations resulting from Canadian raising.