Chapter Round as a Ball; to Royal Titles of R by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Round as a Ball; to Royal Titles

Round as a Ball; ... as an apple, as an orange, etc.

Roundabout (A). A Pict's camp.

“His desire of his companion a Pict's camp, or Roundabout.”- Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary, chap. i.

Roundheads Puritans; so called because they wore their hair short, while the Royalists wore long hair covering their shoulders.

“And ere their butter `gan to coddle,
A bullet churnd i' th Roundhead's noddle.”
Men Miracles, p. 43 (1656).

Roundle, in heraldry, is a charge of a round or circular form. They are of eight sorts, distinguished by their tinctures: (1) a Bezant, tincture “or;” (2) a Plate, tincture “argent;” (3) a Torteau, tincture “gules;” (4) a Hurt, tincture “azure;” (5) an Ogress or Pellet, tincture “sable;” (6) a Golpe, tincture “purpure;” (7) a Guze, tincture “sanguine;” (8) an Orange, tincture “tenney.”

Rounfl So the Britons called ogres, and the servants or attendants of the ogres they called Grewnds.

Rouse (A). A contraction of carousal, a drinking bout. (Swedish, rus; Norwegian, ruus, drunkenness; Dutch, roes, a bumper.) Rouse (1 syl.).

“The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse.”
Shakespeare: Hamlet, i. 4.

Rousing A rousing good fire. Rousing means large, great; hence a rousing falsehood (mendacium magnificum).

Rout (A). A large evening party. (Welsh, rhawter, a crowd.) (See Drum, Hurricane , etc.)

Routiers Adventurers who made war a trade and let themselves out to anyone who would pay them. So called because they were always on the route or moving from place to place. (Twelfth century.)

Rove (1 syl.). To shoot with roving arrows- i.e. arrows shot at a roving mark, either in height or distance.
   To shoot at rovers. To shoot at certain marks of the target so called; to shoot at random without any distinct aim.

“Unbelievers are said by Clobery to `shoot at rovers.”- Divine Glimpses, p. 4 (1659).

   Running at rovers. Running wild; being without restraint.

Row (rhyme with now). A tumult. It used to be written roue, and referred to the night encounters of the roués or profligate bon-vivants whose glory it was to attack the “Charleys” and disturb the peace. (See Roue .)
   Row (rhyme with low). The Row means “Paternoster Row,” famous for publishing firms and wholesale booksellers, or Rotten Row (q.v.). (AngloSaxon, raw, a line.)

Rowdy (rhyme with cloudy). A ruffian brawler, a “rough,” a riotous or turbulent fellow, whose delight is to make a row or disturbance.

Rowena A Saxon princess, and bride of Ivanhoe. (Sir Walter Scott: Ivanhoe.)

Rowland (See Roland .)
   Childe Rowland. Youngest brother of the “fair burd Helen.” Guided by Merlin, he undertook to bring back his sister from Elf-land, whither the fairies had carried her, and succeeded in his perilous exploit. (Ancient Scotch ballad.)

“Childe Rowland to the dark tower came;
His word was still `Fie, foh, and fum,
I smell the blood of a Britishman.' ”
Shakespeare: King Lear, iii. 4.