build around

build around (someone or something)

1. Literally, to construct something around a particular area or thing. A noun or pronoun can be used between "build" and "around." When our kids were little, we built a fence around our pool so that they wouldn't be able to access it.
2. By extension, to create or develop something with a focus on a particular person or idea. A noun or pronoun can be used between "build" and "around." I can't believe they've decided to build the whole football team around that overpaid oaf.
See also: around, build
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

build around

v.
1. To construct or develop something that surrounds or avoids something else: They built the highway around the center of town. If we build a fence around the plants, the goats won't be able to eat them.
2. To develop something based on someone or something: The story is built around two characters. I built my bookstore around the idea that people like to browse before they buy anything.
See also: around, build
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • build around (someone or something)
  • flash around
  • blab
  • blab around
  • dog around
  • carry (someone or something) about
  • carry about
  • carry around
  • gaze around
  • go around and around
References in periodicals archive
The myth is that he refused to budge and so forced the motorway contractors to build around him.
New views of landmark M62 farm
Brazil's Vale SA, the world's biggest iron producer, is in talks with Chinese shipbuilders and leasing companies to build around 50 giant bulk carriers that would move iron ore from Brazil to China, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said last Wednesday.
may build around 20 of the ships, while ship financier Shandong Shipping Corp., ICBC International Leasing Ltd.
VALE, CHINESE SHIPBUILDERS IN TALKS OVER 50 GIANT BULK CARRIERS
The new company, to be called Taylor Wimpey, aims to build around 22,000 homes a year in Britain.
Your MONEY: Cementing a deal; 700 JOBS TO GO IN pounds 5BN TAYLOR WIMPEY MERGER
Select appliances first men build around your needs.
Kitchen aid: Antoinette Fraser prepares essentials for a designer kitchen
now gain new insights and added value with the addition of two formerly underserved sectors of the extended retail industry (ERI)." Helmers said that it now will expand into new markets and continue to build around its core magazine, "Desktop Engineering," and its ancillary products.
Proximus B2b acquires assets from Helmers Publishing
Moreover, this knowledge easily extends to corporate interiors and residential buildouts where we often build around employees and residents.
ACC becomes an expert on medical building issues
The quote by Romeo Dallaire in the Adrienne Clarkson article, entitled Ex-vice regal "at home' in communion, also made an impact: "We are all human beings and no human being is more human than any other." And so we strip away our self-deceptions and the wails we build around ourselves.
Powerful image
"The feedback we received from EAF mill operators, our customers, and even a large Electric Arc Furnace manufacturer led us to design and build around desired material package specifications from the mill."
Harris to roll out "E" series. (ISRI Expo Preview)
But I knew by getting rid of Motown I was still able to preserve the songs and build around it.
Soul for sale: Berry Gordy sells half of Motown catalog for $132 million