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gadabout

[gad-uh-bout]
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noun
  1. a person who moves about restlessly or aimlessly, especially from one social activity to another.
  2. a person who travels often or to many different places, especially for pleasure.
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Origin of gadabout

First recorded in 1810–20; noun use of verb phrase gad about
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for gadabout

Historical Examples

  • I am not to be stopped on the king's service by every gadabout.

    The White Company

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • Not four years since I still had her under me at school, and she was already a gadabout.

  • Fleming gadabout and monk feeder, thou shalt be hanged with them.

  • In the face of her husband's illness, Dolly could not prove a gadabout.

    Mortomley's Estate, Vol. I (of 3)

    Charlotte Elizabeth Lawson Cowan Riddell

  • Yet why should I after all abuse the gadabout propensities of my countrymen?

British Dictionary definitions for gadabout

gadabout

noun
  1. informal a person who restlessly seeks amusement
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gadabout

n.

1837, from earlier noun phrase gadder about (1560s); see gad (v.) + about (adv.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper