subs. (colloquial).—An appointed and established circuit of travel: generic: cf. ROUNDER. Hence GENTLEMAN OF THE ROUND = an officer of the watch. Thus (1) ROUND (topers’) = (a) liquor enough to go round the table, and (b) a toast drunk round; (2) ROUND (gamesters’) = (a) cards to all, and (b) a hand in which all the players deal in turn; (3) an habitual course of visits, calls for orders, inspection; (4) a shot, a cartridge; and (5) archery = a competition; (6) (pugilists’—old) = the successive periods of action in a mill: between fall and fall; and (pugilists’—new, under Queensbury Rules) = so many encounters so many minutes long.
1598. JONSON, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 2. He had writhen himself into the habit of one of your poor infantry, your decay’d, ruinous, worm-eaten GENTLEMEN OF THE ROUND. Ibid. (1609), Epicœne, or the Silent Woman, iv. 2. He walks the ROUND, up and down, through every room of the house.
1620. FLETCHER, Philaster, ii. 4.
| Dion. Come, ladies, shall we take a ROUND? As men | |
| Do walk a mile, women should talk an hour | |
| After supper: ’tis their exercise. |
d. 1667. J. TAYLOR, Works (1835), I. 615. Them that drank the ROUND, when they crouned their heads with folly and forgetfulness.
1714. Spectator, 22 Sept., No. 597. Those noisy slaves … take their early ROUNDS about the city in a morning.
1716. ADDISON, The Free-holder, No. 8, 16 Jan. The Tories are forced to borrow their Toasts from their Antagonists; and can scarce find Beauties enough of their own Side, to supply a single ROUND of October.
d. 1735. GEORGE GRANVILLE, LORD LANSDOWNE, Epigrams and Characters, &c.
| Women to cards may be compar’d; we play | |
| A ROUND or two, when us’d, we throw away. |
d. 1790. FRANKLIN, Autobiography, 239. They … would salute with some ROUNDS fired before my door.
1827. KEBLE, Christian Year, ‘Morning.’ The trivial ROUND, the common task.
1836. E. W. LANE, An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, I. 163. They accompany the military guards in their nightly ROUNDS through the streets of the metropolis.
1847–8. THACKERAY, Vanity Fair, xxxiv. The Banbury man … polished him off in four ROUNDS.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, i. 55. The costermongers … have mostly their little bit of a ROUND; that is, they go only to certain places.
1848. E. Z. C. JUDSON (‘Ned Buntline’), The Mysteries and Miseries of New York, I. 113. Taking a cruise about town, or going on a spree, is called taking a ROUND.
1860. Punch, xxxviii. 169. How many ROUNDS … do you say these ruffians fought?
1868. WHYTE-MELVILLE, The White Rose, I. iii. The … start … would have ensured a ROUND of applause from any audience in Europe.
1879. M. THOMPSON, How to Train in Archery, 12. The ‘National ROUND’ shot by the ladies of Great Britain.
1880. Scribner’s Magazine, 499. Taking his ROUNDS periodically, giving ample warning of his approach.
1888. H. ADAMS, Albert Gallatin, 540. The second ROUND in this diplomatic encounter closed with the British government fairly discomfited.
2. (tramps’).—Trousers: short for ROUND-THE-HOUSES (q.v.).
1893. P. H. EMERSON, Signor Lippo, xiv. One day he walked straight into this kitchen clobbered in a black pair of ROUNDS, light to his legs.
Adj. (old colloquial).—A general qualitative: = simple, straightforward, unmistakeable. Thus A ROUND SUM = (1) a large amount (B. E., GROSE), and (2) a sum stated in one term: e.g., thirty pounds, thirty shillings, three pence; A ROUND ANSWER = plain speech; ROUND-DEALING = honest trading (B. E., GROSE); ROUND TROT = a good pace; ROUND TALE = the unvarnished truth; ROUND OATH = a swingeing expletive; ROUND-REPLY = a straight answer; ROUNDLY = plainly, vehemently, briskly; ROUND (or BROWN) DOZEN (see BROWN).
1240. Middle English Poem [E.E.T.S.: The Ayenbite of Inwyt, 234]. Þe tale of an hondred … betokneþ ane ROUNDE FIGURE.
1593. G. HARVEY, Pierce’s Supererogation [Wks., ii. 49]. Hee it is, that hath it rightly in him indeede; and can ROUNDLY doe the feate, with a witnesse.
1596. SHAKESPEARE, Merchant of Venice, i. 3, 104. Three thousand ducats; ’tis a good ROUND SUM. Ibid. (1599), Henry V., iv. 1. Your reproof is something too ROUND. Ibid. (1602), Hamlet, iii. 2. Let her be ROUND with him. Ibid. (1602), Othello, i. 3, 90. I will a ROUND unvarnish’d TALE deliver. Ibid. (1605), King Lear, i. 4. He answered me in the ROUNDEST manner, he would not.
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Crollare il pero … To tickle a woman ROUNDLIE.
1620. FLETCHER and MASSINGER, The Little French Lawyer, iii. 2. What a bold man of war! he invites me ROUNDLY.
d. 1626. BACON, Essays (1887), ‘Of Truth.’ Clear and ROUND DEALING is the honour of man’s nature. Ibid., History of the Reign of King Henry VII. (JOHNSON). The kings accordingly interposed their mediation in a ROUND and princely MANNER. Ibid., The Wisdom of the Ancients, ‘The River Styx.’ He ROUNDLY and openly avows what most others studiously conceal.
1646. SIR T. BROWNE, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, vi. i. As in the age of Noah, it is delivered to be just five hundred when he begat Sem; wheras perhaps he might be somewhat above or below that ROUND and compleat NUMBER.
1700. CENTLIVRE, The Perjured Husband, iv. 2. Suppose I help you to a lady with a ROUND SUM; you’d keep your word, and marry her?
d. 1714. J. SHARP, Sermons, IV., Sermon 18. Either a ROUND OATH or a Curse.
1751. FIELDING, Amelia, VII. ix. I began to entertain some suspicions, and I took Mrs. Ellison very ROUNDLY to task upon them.
1779. SHERIDAN, The Critic, i. 1. He ROUNDLY asserts that you had not the slightest invention or original genius.
1815. SCOTT, Guy Mannering, xliii. It’s likely he might be brought to pay a ROUND SUM for restitution. Ibid. (1818), Rob Roy, vii. The self-willed girl told me ROUNDLY, that my dissuasions were absolutely in vain.
1847. C. BRONTË, Jane Eyre, xxvii. You found ready and ROUND ANSWERS.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, II. 526. This … pursuing the ROUND NUMBER system would supply nearly five articles, &c.
1859. TENNYSON, Geraint and Enid. ROUND was their pace at first, but slacken’d soon.
1882. A. J. B. BERESFORD HOPE, The Brandreths, I. v. Remonstrating … in ROUND, bold, unconventional LANGUAGE.
1889. The Lancet 9 Nov., 984. The destructors now consumed, ROUNDLY, about 500 loads of refuse a week.
d. 1898. GLADSTONE, The Might of Right, 175. [The United States] has risen, during one simple century of freedom, in ROUND NUMBERS from two millions to forty-five.
2. (tailors’).—Languid; MONDAYISH (q.v.).
Verb. (colloquial).—1. To betray; to PEACH (q.v.); (2) to turn upon and berate: also TO ROUND ON.
1864. Cornhill Magazine, vi. 646. ROUNDING or treachery is always spoken of very indignantly, and often severely, and even murderously punished.
1877. W. H. THOMSON, Five Years’ Penal Servitude, i. 4. Both desisted from their own recriminations as to ‘ROUNDING’ and ‘blowing’ on each other.
1882. Daily Telegraph, 6 Oct., 6, 2. The prisoner … denied the charge, but afterwards asked who had ROUNDED.
1889. Answers, 11 May, 380. He ROUNDED on the warder, and the Governor, to catch the officer, ordered the prisoner to act as if the discovery had not been known.
1897. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM, Liza of Lambeth, xi. They’ve all ROUNDED on me except you, Tom.
TO ROUND UP, verb. phr. (colonial).—To collect cattle: for inspection, branding, &c.: also as subs. Whence (general) = to complete; to take stock.
1881. A. C. GRANT, Bush-Life in Queensland, i. 221. ROUND THEM UP if possible, and let them stand a few minutes to breathe.
1886. ROOSEVELT, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, ii. [A ranchman’s] hardest work comes during the spring and fall ROUND-UPS.
1886. Philadelphia Times, 3 May [Century]. That exception … will probably be included in the general ROUND-UP [of an agreement among railroads] to-morrow.
1887. F. FRANCIS, Jun., Saddle and Moccasin, xvii. 289. As soon as the ‘ROUND UP’ was completed, the herd was taken down to the hacienda where the branding was to take place.
TO BET ROUND, verb. phr. (racing).—To bet upon (or against) several horses in a race.
