to lounge about
1
3.4
- phrasal verb
- /laʊndʒ əˈbaʊt/
- UK
:
holgazanear
- Maybe there will even be parts where we get to lounge about on the dock in the middle of the day, without a care in the world.
- lounging about the room
Examples
-
On lazy Sunday afternoons, I love to lounge about my backyard with a good book.
-
On tatami, but most Westerners lounge about or even lie down.
Fiction book (1996) -
I'd lounge about in my home
-
God knows I've already had one man lounging about...
-
They played baseball and stickball, lounged about in the shade, and gossiped about their neighbors.
Academic text (1990) -
Anyway, so I walked into my classroom at lunchtime to get something, and the students were lounging about, talking in a huge mob, listening to Britney Spears, which I couldn't let pass.
Blog text (16) -
No one approached the ship, no dock authority demanded to know their business, no hucksters swarmed over to push their wares, and no sailors lounged about, idly eyeing the cut of their jib.
Fiction book (1991) -
After a long week at work, he prefers to lounge about the house instead of going out.
-
The children were happy to lounge about in the garden, playing and enjoying the sunshine.
Synonyms
946
2.4
To spend time relaxing or talking with friends
888
1.5
Spend time without any activity
407
2.0
To stay in a place without doing anything important
350
1.1
To spend time sitting and doing very little without a clear purpose
223
4.0
To relax and do very little
111
4.1
To spend time doing playful or unplanned activities
43
3.7
To spend time doing nothing useful
14
9.1
To spend time relaxing with friends or alone without a plan
12
2.7
To sit or lie in a place and relax
7
6.2
To spend time doing little or nothing instead of working
7
4.3
To spend time relaxing and doing very little
5
7.0
To sit or lie in a lazy, relaxed way
5
6.5
To spend time doing small, not important tasks slowly without a clear plan
5
3.8
To relax and do very little
4
4.0
To relax comfortably and spend time lazily in a chair or on a sofa
3
5.9
To spend time somewhere doing nothing special
3
7.9
Spend time doing very little or nothing
3
8.4
To spend time doing not important things in a relaxed way
3
4.4
To stay in a place without a clear reason
2
7.7
To spend time doing nothing useful
2
8.6
To spend time doing very little and moving around without plans
2
9.5
To waste time instead of doing the work you need
1
8.7
To waste time doing small unimportant things
1
6.3
To spend time doing nothing or being inactive
1
9.2
To spend time doing small unimportant things instead of working
1
8.7
To spend time doing things that are not important
1
7.7
To spend time doing nothing and not working
1
4.4
To spend time doing very little and relaxing
1
3.2
To spend time doing nothing
1
6.5
To move around slowly doing small jobs in no hurry
1
9.9
To waste time doing silly or lazy things instead of useful work
1
6.5
To spend time doing nothing in a lazy way
1
9.9
To waste time instead of doing something useful
1
9.9
To waste time instead of doing something useful
To spend time doing small unimportant things with no real plan
Spend time or money on unimportant things
To pass time by doing something not useful while you wait
To waste time on small unimportant things
To relax and do almost nothing
Walk around slowly without a plan
To waste time instead of doing something useful
To spend time on things that are not useful
To travel slowly without a clear plan
How Idle
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to spend time lazily' is directly derivable from 'lounge' (to sit/relax idly) combined with 'about' (around/nearby), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the idiom. This verb + particle pattern (lounge/about, lounge/around) is a common, compositional construction in English and therefore readily comprehensible without prior exposure.
Etymology
Lounge about comes from the picture of someone lying or sitting on a comfortable seat called a lounge and simply moving about the room with no real plan. So, it means 'to spend time lazily' or 'to be idle'.