gadabout

[gad-uh-bout]

See more synonyms for gadabout on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person who moves about restlessly or aimlessly, especially from one social activity to another.
a person who travels often or to many different places, especially for pleasure.

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

Related Words for gadabout

rover, gallivanter

Examples from the Web for gadabout

Historical Examples of gadabout

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.
Abbe Mouret's Transgression
Emile Zola
Fleming gadabout and monk feeder, thou shalt be hanged with them.
The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Vol. II (of 2)
Charles de Coster
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?
Tom Brown's School Days
Thomas Hughes

British Dictionary definitions for gadabout

gadabout

noun

informal a person who restlessly seeks amusement

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

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