roundabout

Etymology

From round +‎ about [from early 20th c.].

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹaʊndəˌbaʊt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Adjective

roundabout (comparative more roundabout, superlative most roundabout)

1. Indirect, circuitous, or circumlocutionary.
   • 1896, Robert Barr, “chapter9”, in From Whose Bourne:

     [S]he fled, running like a deer, doubling and turning through alleys and back streets until by a very roundabout road she reached her own room.

   • 1920 March – 1921 February, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 17, in Indiscretions of Archie, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, publishers […], published 1921, →OCLC:

     "Really, Bill, I think your best plan would be to go straight to father and tell him the whole thing.—You don't want him to hear about it in a roundabout way."

   • 2001 December 3, Jim Rutenberg, “Rather Reports Another War”, in New York Times‎, retrieved 3 April 2014:

     Mr. Rather flew to the area in a roundabout fashion, first landing in Bahrain, from there flying to Islamabad and then heading to Kabul by land.

   • 2011, 50 Classic Philosophy Books‎, Golgotha Press, →ISBN:

     Descartes is compelled to fall back upon a curious roundabout argument to prove that there is a world. He must first prove that God exists, and then argue that God would not deceive us into thinking that it exists when it does not.

2. Encircling; enveloping; comprehensive.
   • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:

     The third sort is of those who readily and sincerely follow reason, but for want of having that which one may call a large, sound, roundabout sense, have not a full view of all that relates to the question.

Noun

roundabout (plural roundabouts)

1. (chiefly UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Australia and sometimes US) A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island.
2. (chiefly British) A horizontal wheel which rotates around a central axis when pushed and on which children ride, often found in parks as a children's play apparatus.
3. A fairground carousel.
4. A detour.
5. A short, close-fitting coat or jacket worn by men or boys, especially in the 19th century.
6. (archaic) A round dance.

Verb

roundabout (third-person singular simple present roundabouts, present participle roundabouting, simple past and past participle roundabouted)

1. To play on a roundabout (carousel)
2. To travel round roundabouts
3. To talk in a roundabout, indirect manner