about, around, round

About is a commonly used word with several meanings and shades of meaning, most of which develop the idea of circling, on every side, or here and there (walk about, look about). It has also the meanings of "nearly" or "approximately" (about 100 books). About is informally used in the sense of "almost" (about ready to go). The phrase "at about" (at about midnight) is wordy; the at can be omitted unless you intend about to mean "approximately."

     Around has many of the basic meanings of about ("on all sides," "here and there"), as in "walk around" and "look around." But in such senses around is more informal than about."Wait around," "to travel around," "to have been around," and "around noon" are fully permissible in colloquial (spoken) usage.

     Around is usually preferred to round in such expressions as "around the world" and "around the Horn." "Meet me round noon" is more informal than "Meet me around noon"; preferably, say or write "Meet me about noon."