ROUND, to tell tales, to “SPLIT,” which see; “to ROUND on a man,” to
swear to him as being the person, &c. Synonymous with “BUFF,” which
see. _Shakespere_ has ROUNDING, whispering.
ROUND, “ROUND dealing,” honest trading; “ROUND sum,” a large sum.
Synonymous also in a _slang_ sense with SQUARE, which see.
ROUNDS, shirt collars—apparently a mere shortening of “All Rounds,” or
“All Rounders,” names of fashionable collars.
ROUNDS (in the language of the street), the BEATS or usual walks of the
costermonger to sell his stock. A term used by street folk generally.
“Watchmen, sometimes they made their sallies,
And walk’d their ROUNDS through streets and allies.”
_Ned Ward’s Vulgus Britannicus_, 1710.
ROUND ROBIN, a petition, or paper of remonstrance, with the signatures
written in a circle,—to prevent the first signer, or ringleader, from
being discovered.
ROUNDABOUTS, large swings of four compartments, each the size, and
very much the shape, of the body of a cart, capable of seating six or
eight boys and girls, erected in a high frame, and turned round by men
at a windlass. Fairs and merry-makings generally abound with them. The
frames take to pieces, and are carried in vans by miserable horses,
from fair to fair, &c.
ROW, a noisy disturbance, tumult, or trouble. Originally _Cambridge_,
now universal. Seventy years ago it was written ROUE, which would
indicate a _French_ origin from _roué_, a profligate, or disturber of
the peace.—_Vide George Parker’s Life’s Painter_, 1789, p. 122.
ROWDY, money. In _America_, a ruffian, a brawler, “rough.”
ROWDY-DOW, low, vulgar; “not the CHEESE,” or thing.
RUB, a quarrel, or impediment: “there’s the RUB,” _i.e._, that is the
difficulty.—_Shakespere and L’Estrange._
RUBBER, a term at whist, &c., two games out of three.—_Old_, 1677.
RUCK, the undistinguished crowd; “to come in with the RUCK,” to arrive
at the winning post among the non-winning horses.—_Racing term._
RUGGY, fusty, frowsy.
RUM, like its opposite, QUEER, was formerly a much used prefix,
signifying, fine, good, gallant, or valuable, perhaps in some way
connected with ROME. Now-a-days it means indifferent, bad, or
questionable, and we often hear even persons in polite society use
such a phrase as “what a RUM fellow he is, to be sure,” in speaking of
a man of singular habits or appearance. The term, from its frequent
use, long since claimed a place in our dictionaries; but, with the
exception of _Johnson_, who says RUM, a cant word for a clergyman (?),
no lexicographer has deigned to notice it.
“Thus RUMLY floor’d, the kind Acestes ran,
And pitying, rais’d from earth the game old man.”
VIRGIL’S ÆNEID, book v., _Translation by Thomas Moore_.
RUMBUMPTIOUS, haughty, pugilistic.
RUMBUSTIOUS, or RUMBUSTICAL, pompous, haughty, boisterous, careless of
the comfort of others.
RUMGUMPTION, or GUMPTION, knowledge, capacity, capability,—hence,
RUMGUMPTIOUS, knowing, wide-awake, forward, positive, pert, blunt.
RUM MIZZLERS, persons who are clever at making their escape, or getting
out of a difficulty.
RUMPUS, a noise, disturbance, a “row.”
RUMY, a good woman, or girl.—_Gipsey slang._ In the regular _Gipsey_
language, ROMI, a woman, a wife, is the feminine of RO, a man; and in
the _Robber’s Language_ of Spain (partly _Gipsey_), RUMI signifies a
harlot.