go about

present singular third person goes about · participle present going about · past went about · participle past gone about

1. transitiveTo busy oneself with.

   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.

   December 7 2022, Simon Shuster, “2022 Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelensky”, in Time, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2023

2. intransitiveTo tackle (a problem or task).

   A marvellous witty fellow, I assure you; but I will go about with him.

   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]

3. intransitiveTo circulate (in).

   Synonyms: shrithe

4. intransitiveTo change from one tack to another. See :Wikipedia:Tack (maneuver).

   1 more example

   [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?"

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 112