Round-about, subs. (old).—1. See quot. c.1548. Also (2: modern) = a short, close-fitting jacket: also rounder.
c. 1548. Latimer, Sermons and Remains (Parker, Works, 108). [Oliphant, New Eng., i. 516. The huge farthingales worn by women are called round-abouts].
1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, 81. One of the party in a green round-about.
1893. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, 24. That's me in plaid dittos and rounder.
3. (thieves').—A female thief's all-round pocket.
4. (common).—1. A horizontal wheel or frame, turned by a small engine, and furnished with wooden horses or carriages; a merry-go-round.
1872. Besant & Rice, R. M. Mortiboy, xxiii. He got . . . a Punch and Judy, swing-boats, a roundabout, and a performing monkey.
5. (prison).—A treadmill; the everlasting-staircase (q.v.).
6. (thieves').—A housebreaker's tool: it cuts a round piece, about five inches in diameter, out of a shutter or door; also round robin (Grose).
Round-and-square, phr. (rhyming).—Everywhere.
Round-betting. See Round.
Roundem, subs. (thieves').—A
button.
Rounder, subs. (common).—1. A
whoremaster: see Mutton-*monger:
spec. a fancy-man
(q.v.).
2. (common).—A person or thing taking or making a round (subs., senses 1-6).
3. (common).—A round of cheers.
1882. Blackmore, Christowell, xxxiii. Was off amid a rounder of 'Thank'e, ma'am, thank'e.'
4. (common).—A big oath.
1886. Campbell-Praed, Heaa Station, 33. We can all swear a rounder in the stock-yard.
5. (American).—A man who goes habitually from bar to bar.
1883. Century, xxxvi. 249. Midnight rounders, with nose laid over . . . as evidence of their prowess in bar-room mills and paving-stone riots.
1886. Philadelphia Times [Century]. G . . . had made himself conspicuous as a rounder.
1887. Christ. Union, 25 Aug. A very large proportion . . . are old rounders, who return again and again.
To round (or round in the ear), verb. phr. (old).—To whisper.
1604. Shakspeare, Winter's Tale, i. 2, 217. They're . . . whispering, rounding.
1611. Cotgrave, Dict., s.v. s'accouter a l'oreille.
See Round, subs. and adj., and Round-about.
Roundhead, subs. (old colloquial).—A
Puritan (q.v.). [The hair
was worn closely cropped.] To
round the head = to cut the
hair round.—B. E., Grose.
Roundy (or Roundy-ken), subs.
phr. (old).—A watch-house; a
lock-up.
1828. Egan, Finish to Life in London, 245. To avoid a night's lodging in the roundy-ken.
Round Mouth (The), subs. phr.
(old).—The fundament: also
Brother round-mouth.
'Brother round-mouth
speaks' = 'He has let a fart'
(Grose).
