| 释义 |
▪ I. roundabout, n. and a.|ˈraʊndəbaʊt|
Also round-about.
[f. prec.]
A. n.
1. a. A circle; a circular course or object; a circular encampment, a surrounding hedge, etc.
c1535in Dugdale's Monast. (1825) V. 184/2 There is in the seid close a motte called the round abowte. 1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. 911 An Iron Fly flew out; Which having showne a perfect Round-about,..return'd unto her Master. 1674Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 199 All the round⁓about of earthly beings. 1795Statist. Acc. Scot. XV. 84 There are a great many round-abouts in the parish, commonly called Picts Works. 1816Scott Antiq. i, A Pict's camp, or Round-about. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Round-About, the boundary-hedge of a coppice. 1894Murray's Handbk. Oxf. 136 The Camp, locally the ‘Round⁓about’, is 140 yds. in diameter.
b. A plump, rounded figure. rare—1.
1812Combe Syntax, Picturesque i, Her face was red, her form was fat, A round-about, and rather squat.
c. Sc. ‘An oatcake of a circular form, pinched all round with the finger and thumb’ (Jam.).
1824Tournay 31 (Jam.), Nackets and round-abouts to your coffee. 1828Moir Mansie Wauch iii. (1849) 18 Round⁓abouts and snaps brown and white quality.
2.
†a. A farthingale. Obs.—1
1552Latimer Serm. xxxv. (1584) 281 In the old tyme women were content with honest and single garments. Now they haue found out these round-aboutes.
b. U.S. A short jacket.
1823J. F. Cooper Pilot I. vi. 66 The young sailor..slipped his arms into the sleeves of a morning round⁓about, covered with the trappings of his profession. 1825in Trans Illinois State Hist. Soc. 1910 (1912) 177, I have twelve shirts six pair Pantaloons 6 vests..two round⁓abouts. 1843Marryat M. Violet xliv, To wear their light nankeen trousers and gingham round-abouts. 1876‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer i, She turned just in time to seize a small boy by the slack of his roundabout. 1904N.Y. Even. Post 7 Jan. 7 Only yesterday this young man was playing about the streets of Washington, a schoolboy in roundabouts.
c. U.S. An armchair with a rounded back.
1844Lowell Offering IV. 175 [He sat] in a large flat⁓bottomed ‘roundabout’ on the opposite side of the fire⁓place. 1864in Webster.
†d. U.S. A loose dressing-gown worn by women.
†e. N.Z. (See quot. 1861.) Obs.
1841Southern Lit. Messenger VII. 525/1 The garment is a long, loose roundabout, connecting in front with strings, and is much worn, even at the present time. 1856V. Lush Jrnl. 17 Jan. (1971) 176 The whole lot stood quietly looking at us, clothed from top to toe in their long full roundabouts. 1861R. B. Paul N.Z. 17 [The Maori women's] usual dress is..a shapeless sack of printed calico, called a ‘roundabout’, tied round the neck but loose at the waist. 1874W. M. Baines Narr. E. Crewe 118, I also gave [the Maori girl] 8 yards of Navy blue print (which everyone knows is enough for a ‘roundabout’). 1890P. A. Philips Reminisc. Early Days 7 The hostess did not dress for dinner..her usual attire being a Maori roundabout. 1895K. D. Wiggin Village Watch-Tower 103 Mother had let her slip on her new green roundabout over her nightgown.
3.
†a. A shifty person. Obs.—1 Cf. B. 1 a.
1605Breton I pray you be not Angrie Wks. (Grosart) II. 8/1 This rascal round-about, without good complexion or good condition.
b. A circuitous or indirect way; a detour.
1755Washington Writ. (1889) I. 152 A very fatiguing ride and long round about, brought me to the General..at Frederick-Town. 1786Cowper Let. Lady Hesketh 17 Apr. (1904) III. 18 A door opening out of our garden..will save the roundabout by the town. 1827Scott Jrnl. 10 July, I went to Cadell's by the Mound, a long roundabout. 1858Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 384 A bridge burnt down over the Trent, which occasioned a great roundabout. 1879Browning Martin Relph 126 The floods were out, he was forced to take such a roundabout of ways!
fig.1734North Examen iii. vi. §10 (1740) 430 We must be excused for walking the Author's Pace, in all his Round⁓abouts, though it be out of all known Track of Truth.
c. An indirect utterance; a circumlocution.
1616–61B. Holyday Persius (1673) 340/2 Wherefore, not to trouble our selves with these round-abouts, the old and ordinary exposition..seems to me most easie. 1753–4Richardson Grandison (1781) II. 77, I began with my roundabouts and my suppose's. 1775S. J. Pratt Liberal Opin. cxxv. (1783) IV. 143 Unsettle by systems and long-laboured literary roundabouts, the very marrow in the hollow of your bones. 1802E. Parsons Myst. Visit III. 243 After several roundabouts leading to the subject. 1875Browning Aristoph. Apol. 148 All my roundabout Ends at beginning, with my own defence.
4.
†a. A kind of round dance. Obs.
1766Goldsm. Vic. W. ix, Though the Miss Flamboroughs..understood the jig and round-about to perfection, yet they were totally unacquainted with country dances. 1815P. Roberts Cambrian Antiq. 46 The Roundabout, or more precisely the Cheshire-round.., is danced by two only.
b. A merry-go-round. to gain on the swings and lose on the roundabouts: see swing n.2
1763Brit. Mag. IV. 50 There was a round-about for children to ride in, and all sorts of toys sold as at other fairs. 1813Sporting Mag. XLII. 20 There were the usual swings, ups-and-downs and roundabouts. 1879Sala Paris Herself Again (1880) II. 320 The great roundabouts, worked by steam, made a fearful clatter.
transf.1780–2Cowper Jackdaw 25 He sees, that this great roundabout—The world, with all its motley rout,..Is no concern at all of his.
c. A circular tour or excursion.
1894Westm. Gaz. 20 Oct. 7/2 The general manager..personally conducted the party on a ‘roundabout’, which took in fifty..miles of the Cambrian Railway.
d. A junction at which traffic moves one way round a central island. Cf. rondpoint b, rotary n. 3.
1927Glasgow Herald 3 Jan. 7/2 There is only one draw⁓back to the roundabout, and that is the inconvenience caused to pedestrians. 1937Times 13 Apr. (British Motor No.) p. viii/1 Roundabouts..have the advantage of keeping vehicles on the move. 1947Daily Mail 22 May 3/4 Removal of the Mansion House to make room for a big round-about. 1955Times 2 Aug. 9/7 Makeshift tactics are particularly evident in the proposed treatment at Hyde Park Corner which includes an extremely complicated roundabout. 1967Listener 28 Sept. 398/1 People make only occasional use of their speedometer..on such critical occasions as the approach to roundabouts. 1977Belfast Tel. 14 Feb. 5/9, 12 shots were fired at an armoured police vehicle near the roundabout at Narrow⁓water Castle.
5. a. A burglar's tool: (see quot.).
1796Grose's Dict. Vulg. T. (ed. 3), Round About, an instrument used in house-breaking... It will cut a round piece, about five inches in diameter, out of a shutter or door.
b. A rotatory vessel used in tanning.
1852C. Morfit Tanning & Currying (1853) 411 In some places the tanning process is slightly modified..by the use of a large barrel-churn, or roundabout, which receives both the skins and alum-bath.
6. Sc. (See quot. and B. 5.)
1825Jamieson, Round-About,..a fire-place,..in which the grate is detached from the walls, and so placed that persons may sit around it on all sides.
B. adj.
1. Not following a straight course; not straightforward; circuitous, indirect.
a. Of persons. rare. Cf. A. 3 a.
1608Middleton Mad World ii. i, You progressive round⁓about rascal. 1823Coleridge Table-t. 4 Jan., A rogue is a roundabout fool.
b. Of a way or journey.
1701J. Norris in Pennsylv. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 43 We had a roundabout journey. 1710Steele Tatler No. 234 ⁋7 To carry them a dark Round-about Way to let them in at a Back-Door. 1834James J. Marston Hall xi, I informed him that I enjoyed a roundabout more than a straightforward track. 1893F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 56 After a hard day's walk over a very roundabout road.
c. Of methods or procedure.
1704Norris Ideal World ii. i. 7, I need not argue this roundabout way. 1778F. Burney Evelina xxvi, She declared that she would have nothing to do with any round⁓about ways, but go openly and instantly to law. 1833L. Ritchie Wand. by Loire 241 Why move towards your object in this round-about manner? 1864Bowen Logic vii. 204 The Logicians invented the awkward, roundabout, and operose process which they called Reduction per impossibile.
d. Of statements or utterances.
1737S. Carolina Gaz. 30 Apr.–7 May 1/1 [Drunkenness] bears no kind of Similitude with any sort of Virtue, from which it might..borrow a Name; and is therefore reduc'd to the wretched Necessity of being express'd by distant round-about Phrases. 1755Smollett Quix. (1803) II. 193, I would not willingly disclose myself of a sudden, but prepare him by some round⁓about insinuation. 1818Hazlitt Eng. Poets v. (1870) 114 A flimsy, round-about, unmeaning commencement. 1861T. A. Trollope La Beata I. ix. 254 Before the old wax-chandler had got a quarter through his hints and round⁓about explanations. 1885Clodd Myths & Dr. i. vi. 105 The savage..will use all sorts of roundabout phrases to avoid saying it.
e. Of a blow. rare.
1830Lytton Paul Clifford vi, That round-about sort of blow with the left fist is very unfavourable towards the preservation of a firm balance.
f. Of or pertaining to a junction at which traffic moves one way around a central island. Cf. sense A. 4 d above.
1927Rep. Commissioner Police Metropolis, 1926 18 During the past year round-about systems of traffic have been put into operation at Parliament Square [etc.]. 1939War Illustr. 7 Oct. 127 This car was found abandoned the morning after colliding with the posts of a ‘roundabout’ island. 1976Alyn & Deeside Observer 10 Dec. 1/6 From there it runs to Broughton in the Welsh county of Clwyd and ends at a roundabout junction.
2. Taking a complete survey. rare.
a1704Locke Wks. (1724) III. 391 Those who readily and sincerely follow Reason, but for want of having that which one may call large, sound, round about Sense, have not a full view of all that relates to the Question. [1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. VI. li. 467 Hamilton was excelled by Madison in wisdom, large, sound, roundabout sense and perception of what the country would grant.]
3. a. Of garments: Cut circularly round the bottom; without a train or tails; going right round.
1710Steele Tatler No. 245 ⁋2 Six round-about Aprons with Pockets. 1837Hook in New Monthly Mag. XLIX. 468, I hear the rustling of Mrs. Brandyball's roundabout silk gown. 1854J. L. Stephens Centr. Amer. 6, I took my seat in a roundabout jacket upon a chair exceedingly comfortable.
b. Designating a type of chair with a rounded seat or back (see quots.). Cf. sense A. 2 c.
1741in J. S. Moore Goods & Chattels of our Forefathers (1976) 286 Six India Back Chairs and a Round about Ditto with Leather seats {pstlg}2 0s 0d. 1840Knickerbocker XVI. 115, I sat in my roundabout chair the other evening. 1936F. C. Morse Furniture 170 ‘Roundabout’ chairs are met with in inventories from 1738 under various names,—‘three-cornered chair’, ‘half round chair’, ‘round about chair’. 1952J. Gloag Short Dict. Furnit. 398 The round⁓about chair has a circular seat, either upholstered or caned, a semi-circular back, and six legs. 1960H. Hayward Antique Coll. 84/1 Corner chairs were known in the 17th cent. and were sometimes called elbow chairs or roundabout chairs. 1966M. M. Pegler Dict. Interior Design (1967) 380 Roundabout chair. This chair is usually designed to fit into a corner, the square seat diagonally set and the back extending across two adjoining sides.
4. Of persons: Plump or stout in figure.
1806Scott Fam. Lett. (1894) I. ii. 35 We have..a little roundabout girl with large dark eyes. 1840R. Bremner Excurs. Denmark, etc. II. 406 The easy round-about men seen in Copenhagen, would excite a smile if seen side by side with these handsome fellows. 1892Tennyson Foresters i. i, Each of 'em..as sleek and as round-about as a mellow codlin.
5. Allowing persons to sit all round. (Cf. A. 6.)
1802C. Findlater Gen. View Agric. Peebles 40 The round-about fire side..was universally in use in the kitchen. 1815Pennecuik Descr. Tweeddale 82 The round-about fireside..was universally in use in the kitchen. 1978T. Henderson Shetland 142 (caption) A round-about fire in Walls about 1910.
6. That surrounds or encircles.
c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 49 The head of the sail is brought to the gaff by an earring and roundabout lacing.
▪ II. ˈroundabout, v. rare.
[f. the adv.]
intr. (with it). To wander about. Similarly (or from the adj.), roundabouˈtation, circumlocution; roundaˈboutedly adv. = roundaboutly; roundaˈboutedness, roundabouˈtility, = roundaboutness; ˈroundaˌbouting vbl. n., the action of going round about; ˈroundaˌboutly adv., in a roundabout manner; ˈroundaˌboutness, the quality of being roundabout.
1812Byron Waltz To Publ., Away they went, and *roundabouted it till supper-time.
1812H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr. xix, To finish my tale without *roundaboutation. 1833M. Scott T. Cringle xv, You had better say boldly that you do not without any roundaboutation.
1870Dickens E. Drood ix, What..was euphuistically, not to say *roundaboutedly, denominated ‘the apartment allotted to study’.
1840Fraser's Mag. XXII. 346 The lengthiness and ‘*roundaboutedness’ which distinguish the effusions of diplomatists.
1863Examiner 5 Sept., A precious example of *roundaboutility worthy of note.
a1860J. Younger Autobiog. (1881) xviii. 212 Its friskings, wanderings and *round-aboutings.
1876R. Broughton Joan i, He said it..more lengthily and *roundaboutly.
1810Southey in C. C. Southey Life (1850) III. 274 The vice of the Friend is its *roundaboutness. 1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. (1863) 479 Woody lanes, which wind along from farm to farm,..meandering with such a surprising round-about-ness. 1891Athenæum 18 Apr. 505/2 Coleridge replies in a letter intensely characteristic in its roundaboutness. |
