Chapter Rotten Row to Round Table of R by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

who has outraged propriety, assemble before the house, and make an appalling din with bells, horns, tin pans, and other noisy instruments.

Rough-shod Riding rough-shod over one. Treating one without the least consideration. The allusion is to riding a horse rough-shod.

Rough and Ready Said to be derived from Colonel Rough, who was in the battle of Waterloo. The story says that the Duke of Wellington used to say “Rough and ready, colonel,” and the family adopted the words as their motto.

Rough and Ready So General Zachary Taylor, twelfth president of the United States, was called. (1786- 1853.)

Roughs (The). The coarse, ill-behaved rabble, without any of the polish of good breeding.

Rouncival Large, of gigantic size. Certain large bones of antediluvian animals were at one time said to be the bones of the heroes who fell with Roland in Roncesvalles. “Rounceval peas” are those large peas called “marrowfats,” and a very large woman is called a rouncival.

“Hereof, I take it, it comes that seeing a great woman, we say she is a rouncival.”- Mandeville.

Round A watchman's beat. He starts from one point, and comes round again to the same place.
   To walk the Round. The lawyers used frequently to give interviews to their clients in the Round church; and “walking the Round” meant loitering about the Round church, under the hope of being hired for a witness.

Round (To). To whisper. (Anglo-Saxon, runian; German, raunen, to whisper.) (See Rounded .)
   That lesson which I will round you in the ear- which I will whisper in your ear. (Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress.)

“France ... rounded in the ear with [by] ... commodity [self-interest] hath resolved to [on] a most base peace.”- Shakespeare: King John, ii. 1.

“And ner the feend he drough as nought ne were,
Ful privëly, and rounëd in his eere,
`Herkë, my brother, herkë, by thi faith ...
Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, 7132.

Round Dealing Honest, straight-forward dealing, without branching off into underhand tricks, or deviating from the straight path into the by-ways of finesse.

“Round dealing is the honour of man's nature.”- Bacon.

Round Numbers (In). In whole numbers, without regarding the fractions. Thus we say the population of the British Isles is forty millions in round numbers, and that of London four millions (1895). The idea is that what is round is whole or perfect, and, of course, fractions, being broken numbers, cannot belong thereto.

Round Peg Round peg in the square hole, and square peg in the round hole. The wrong man in the wrong place; especially applied to government officials. The expression was used in 1855, by Mr. Layard, speaking of the “Administration Reform Association.” The allusion is to such games as cribbage, German tactics, etc.
   In 1804, Sydney Smith, in his Moral Philosophy, said: “You choose to represent the various parts in life by holes upon a table. ... We shall generally find that the triangular person has got into the square hole, the oblong into the triangular hole and the round person has squeezed himself into the square hole.”

Round Robin A petition or protest signed in such a way that no name heads the list. Of course, the signatures are placed in a circular form. The device is French, and the term is a corruption of rond (round) ruban (a ribbon). It was first adopted by the officers of government as a means of making known their grievances.