go about

English[edit]

go about (third-person singular simple present goes about, present participle going about, simple past went about, past participle gone about)

(transitive) To busy oneself with.
- December 7 2022, Simon Shuster, “2022 Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelensky”, in Time‎^[1]:
  The workers went about their business as Zelensky looked around. One man at the wheel of a forklift seemed annoyed when the presidential entourage got in his way, and the machine beeped loudly as we tried to maneuver around him.
(intransitive) To tackle (a problem or task).
- 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
  A marvellous witty fellow, I assure you; but I will go about with him.
(intransitive) To circulate (in).
(intransitive, of a sailing ship) To change from one tack to another. See Wikipedia:Tack (maneuver).
- 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 112:
  [I]t was commonly said that two masts, a bowsprit and a swivel gun would have transformed our dwelling into a line-of-battle ship; indeed, so seaman-like was our architect, that we feared when once we had taken possession of our new house, we might be disturbed during the night by an order being given to "go about," and by hearing in the quiet hours of the morning the familiar inquiry of "How's her head?"

to busy oneself with

to tackle

to circulate (in)

to change from one tack to another