The Spaniards, casting themselves into roundels, . . . made a
flying march to Calais.
Bacon.
Specifically: (a) A small circular shield, sometimes not more than a
foot in diameter, used by soldiers in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. (b) (Her.) A circular spot; a sharge in the form of a small
circle. (c) (Fort.) A bastion of a circular form.
Round"e*lay (?), n. [OF. rondelet, dim. of rondel. See Roundel,
Roundeau, and cf. Roundlet, Rundlet.] 1. (Poetry) See Rondeau, and
Rondel.
2. (Mus.) (a) A tune in which a simple strain is often repeated; a
simple rural strain which is short and lively. Spenser. Tennyson. (b) A
dance in a circle.