along about
1
6.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
alrededor de
- She trailed along about a hundred yards behind me, clearly humiliated.
- comes along about
Examples
-
Still, along about January we'll all be wishing we had a little of this weather.
-
But along about the fifth inning, he'd climbed up onto my lap, and I began explaining the game to him.
Fiction book (1994) -
It's supposed to hurt a little along about this time.
-
Would you tell the court, please, exactly what happened along about 8:00 on the evening of May 6?
-
Along about then, he decided it was time to go out West.
Fiction book (1990) -
Along about the cool of the morning, the farmer will get his cow back.
-
Along about nine o'clock, he stumbled into my camp.
-
They've exploded and some of them are a little bit tall or a little bit shorter than they should be, but they're all going to come along about the same time and they're going to do great.
-
Along about number three trying for 'four, my bride of 57 summers (I don't count the winters, because of those ski-type pajamas) came in from her annual chore of mopping the back porch.
Fiction book (1994) -
We generally meet along about noon for lunch.
Synonyms
424
1.0
During the whole time
301
2.1
About a number or idea, not exact but close enough
1
6.5
At or near that time
At about that time, place, or number
How Exact
Surface Forms
Morphology
along + about
The approximative sense is primarily carried by 'about', so a learner who knows 'about' would likely infer 'around seven' from context; however 'along' does not transparently contribute that meaning (it may be dialectal or a redundant temporal marker) and its role is not predictable from the constituents alone. Because the meaning is partly recoverable from one constituent but not fully compositional, the item is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
Along about may come from a simple image of moving along while pointing to an 'about' time. Imagine walking and saying you'll get there along about sunset — as you go along you expect to arrive 'about' that time, so the phrase means 'at approximately' a particular time.