be around

English

Verb

be around

1. (idiomatic) To be alive, existent, or present.
   • 1918, Booth Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons, ch. 34:

     Well, sir, you remember this young Georgie sort of disappeared, after his grandfather's death, and nobody seemed to know much what had become of him—though I did hear, once or twice, that he was still around somewhere.

   • 2005, Ed Levine, "It's All in How the Dog Is Served," New York Times, 25 May (retrieved 1 Jan. 2009):

     The New York-style hot dog I love has been around for well over a hundred years.

Usage notes

• When this expression has the sense of "to be alive" or "to be existent," it is often used with still.
• The related form to have been around can have a distinctly different meaning.

See also

• have been around