rightabout

or right-a·bout

[ rahyt-uh-bout ]

noun

the position assumed by turning about to the right so as to face in the opposite direction.
the act of turning so as to face the opposite direction.

adverb

facing or in the opposite direction: Move that chair rightabout.

Origin of rightabout

First recorded in 1690–1700; right + about

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use rightabout in a sentence

A few carbine and musket shots, from the knoll and house, soon brought them to a halt, and sent them to the right-about.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 67, Number 414, April, 1850 | Various
Them Rothenburg tumbles to the right-about, and chases;—finds, on advancing, the Austrian Army totally unaware.
History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XII. (of XXI.) | Thomas Carlyle
So I call upon Boffin, before I say another word, to fetch him in and send him packing to the right-about.'
Our Mutual Friend | Charles Dickens
“I think we had better turn right-about, we shall never be able to get past him alive,” said the captain.
East of the Sun and West of the Moon | Peter Christen Asbjrnsen
Bui also was flogged, but, admitting himself to be a coward, was set to the "right-about."
The Discovery of the Source of the Nile | John Hanning Speke

British Dictionary definitions for right about

right about

noun

a turn executed through 180°

adjective, adverb

in the opposite direction

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

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