- round
- I [[t]ra͟ʊnd[/t]]
PREPOSITION AND ADVERB USES
♦♦(Round is an adverb and preposition that has the same meanings as `around'. Round is often used with verbs of movement, such as `walk' and `drive', and also in phrasal verbs such as `get round' and `hand round'. Round is commoner in British English than American English, and it is slightly more informal.)1) PREP To be positioned round a place or object means to surround it or be on all sides of it. To move round a place means to go along its edge, back to the point where you started.
They were sitting round the kitchen table...
The nightdress has handmade lace round the armholes and neckline...
All round us was desert...
I shivered and pulled my scarf more tightly round my neck...
He tramped hurriedly round the lake towards the garden.
...cycling round and round the park.
ADV: ADV after vRound is also an adverb.Visibility was good all round... The goldfish swam round and round in their tiny bowls.
2) PREP If you move round a corner or obstacle, you move to the other side of it. If you look round a corner or obstacle, you look to see what is on the other side.Suddenly a car came round a corner on the opposite side...
Stay on the left-hand pavement to follow a road downhill round a curve...
One of his men tapped and looked round the door.
3) PREP You use round to say that something happens in or relates to different parts of a place, or is near a place.He happens to own half the land round here...
I think he has earned the respect of leaders all round the world...
She's been on at me for weeks to show her round the stables...
They need some way of getting round the country.
ADV: ADV after v, n ADVRound is also an adverb.Shirley found someone to show them round... So you're going to have a look round?
4) ADV: ADV after v If a wheel or object spins round, it turns on its axis.Holes can be worn remarkably quickly by a wheel going round at 60mph...
Stars appeared everywhere, spinning round and round, faster and faster.
5) ADV: ADV after v If you turn round, you turn so that you are facing or going in the opposite direction.She paused, but did not turn round...
The end result was that the ship had to turn round, and go back to Djibouti...
The wind veered round to the east...
Tricia looked round in surprise.
6) ADV: ADV after v If you move things round, you move them so they are in different places.He will be glad to refurnish where possible, change things round and redecorate...
I've already moved things round a bit to make it easier for him.
7) ADV: ADV after v If you hand or pass something round, it is passed from person to person in a group.John handed round the plate of sandwiches.
...as the whiskey bottle is passed round.
Round is also a preposition.They started handing the microphone out round the girls at the front... The word is passed round the industry if you think there's a troublesome driver.
8) ADV: ADV after v If you go round to someone's house, you visit them.I think we should go round and tell Kevin to turn his music down...
He came round with a bottle of champagne.
Round is also a preposition in non-standard English.I went round my wife's house.
9) ADV: ADV after v You use round in informal expressions such as sit round or hang round when you are saying that someone is spending time in a place and is not doing anything very important. [BRIT]As we sat round chatting, I began to think I'd made a mistake...
I was running round all hyped up.
Round is also a preposition.She would spend the day hanging round street corners... Leonard pottered round the greenhouse, tying up canes for the tomatoes.
10) PREP If something is built or based round a particular idea, that idea is the basis for it.That was for a design built round an existing American engine...
The core of the Festival's programme centres round performances of new and 20th century work.
11) PREP If you get round a problem or difficulty, you find a way of dealing with it.Don't just immediately give up but think about ways round a problem...
There are ways of getting round most things!
12) ADV: ADV after v If you win someone round, or if they come round, they change their mind about something and start agreeing with you.He did his best to talk me round, but I wouldn't speak to him...
The Chandler twins were coming round to the same opinion.
13) ADV: n ADV, ADV after v You use round in expressions such as this time round or to come round when you are describing something that has happened before or things that happen regularly.In the past, the elections have been marked by hundreds of murders, but this time round the violence has been much more limited...
Of course, it isn't the same first time round...
We were very keen when the 1954 Rally came round.
14) PREP You can use round to give the measurement of the outside of something that is shaped like a circle or a cylinder.I'm about two inches larger round the waist.
...forty-eight inches round the hips.
ADVRound is also an adverb.It's six feet high and five feet round.
15) ADV: ADV amount You use round in front of times or amounts to indicate that they are approximate.I go to bed round 11:00 at night.
16) PHR-PREP In spoken English, round about means approximately. [mainly BRIT]Round about one and a half million people died.
...a system that was abolished round about 1902.
17) PHRASE: cl PHR (emphasis) You say all round to emphasize that something affects all parts of a situation or all members of a group. [mainly BRIT]It ought to make life much easier all round...
Nerves are frayed all round.
18) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that something is going round and round in your head, you mean that you can't stop thinking about it.It all keeps going round and round in my head till I don't know where I am.
19) PHRASE: PHR after v If something happens all year round, it happens throughout the year.Many of these plants are evergreen, so you can enjoy them all year round...
II [[t]ra͟ʊnd[/t]] NOUN USESIt's a treat to be enjoyed all the year round.
♦♦rounds1) N-COUNT: with supp, oft N of n A round of events is a series of related events, especially one which comes after or before a similar series of events.It was agreed that another round of preliminary talks would be held in Peking...
This is the latest round of job cuts aimed at making the company more competitive...
There will be more frequent rounds of inspection by our security personnel.
2) N-COUNT: usu adj N, N num In sport, a round is a series of games in a competition. The winners of these games go on to play in the next round, and so on, until only one player or team is left....in the third round of the Pilkington Cup...
After round three, two Americans share the lead.
Syn:3) N-COUNT: usu adj N, N num In a boxing or wrestling match, a round is one of the periods during which the boxers or wrestlers fight.He was declared the victor in the 11th round...
Gibson's left eye is completely closed before the end of round one.
4) N-COUNT: usu N of n, N of num A round of golf is one game, usually including 18 holes....two rounds of golf...
Ronan Rafferty shot six birdies in a round of 67.
5) N-COUNT: oft N of n A round is a circular shape....small fresh rounds of goats' cheese...
A cucumber was sliced into rounds.
6) N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft N of n A round of bread is a slice of bread. A round of sandwiches is a sandwich made from two slices of bread. [BRIT]...four rounds of toast.
7) N-COUNT: usu supp N If you do your rounds or your round, you make a series of visits to different places or people, for example as part of your job. [mainly BRIT]The consultants still did their morning rounds...
(in AM, usually use route)He got out of the car, and carried on with his paper round.
8) N-COUNT: usu with supp If you buy a round of drinks, you buy a drink for each member of the group of people that you are with.They sat on the clubhouse terrace, downing a round of drinks...
I think it's my round.
9) N-COUNT: usu num N, N of n A round of ammunition is the bullet or bullets released when a gun is fired....firing 1650 rounds of ammunition during a period of ten minutes.
...the use of live rounds of ammunition.
10) N-COUNT: N of n If there is a round of applause, everyone hits their open hands together to welcome someone or to show that they have enjoyed something.Sue got a sympathetic round of applause.
11) N-COUNT In music, a round is a simple song sung by several people in which each person sings a different part of the song at the same time.12) PHRASE: V inflects If a story, idea, or joke is going the rounds or doing the rounds, a lot of people have heard it and are telling it to other people.This story was going the rounds 20 years ago.
13) PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR of n If you make the rounds or do the rounds, you visit a series of different places.After school, I had picked up Nick and Ted and made the rounds of the dry cleaner and the grocery store...
III [[t]ra͟ʊnd[/t]] ADJECTIVE USESWe could do the rounds of the galleries.
rounder, roundest1) ADJ-GRADED Something that is round is shaped like a circle or ball.She had small feet and hands and a flat, round face.
...the round church known as The New Temple.
...large round loaves dusted with flour.
2) ADJ-GRADED If someone has round eyes, their eyes are open wide, for example because they are surprised, excited, or afraid.The boy sucked his thumb and stared at Hebburn with huge, round eyes.
3) ADJ: ADJ n A round number is a multiple of 10, 100, 1000, and so on. Round numbers are used instead of precise ones to give the general idea of a quantity or proportion.I asked how much silver could be bought for a million pounds, which seemed a suitably round number...
IV [[t]ra͟ʊnd[/t]] VERB USESThe money goes into the team pool, which this summer, in round figures, has now reached ₤78,000.
rounds, rounding, rounded1) VERB If you round a place or obstacle, you move in a curve past the edge or corner of it.[V n] The house disappeared from sight as we rounded a corner...
[V n] After rounding Cape Finisterre the boats ride the north-easterly trades.
Syn:2) VERB If you round an amount up or down, or if you round it off, you change it to the nearest whole number or nearest multiple of 10, 100, 1000 and so on.[V n with adv] We needed to do decimals to round up and round down numbers...
[be V-ed to amount] The fraction was then multiplied by 100 and rounded to the nearest half or whole number...
[V n adv to amount] I'll round it off to about ₤30.
3) → See also roundedPhrasal Verbs:- round on- round up
English dictionary. 2008.
