# roundabout
## English
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɹaʊndəˌbaʊt/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)

### Adjective

roundabout (comparative more roundabout, superlative most roundabout)
* 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.
* 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.

#### Derived terms

* roundaboutly

#### Translations
### Noun

roundabout (plural roundabouts)
* (chiefly UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Australia and sometimes US) A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island.
* (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.
* A fairground carousel.
* A detour.
* A short, close-fitting coat or jacket worn by men or boys, especially in the 19th century.
* (archaic) A round dance.

#### Usage notes

* In North America, the use of roundabout varies by region. In some places traffic circle and rotary are more common. A distinction is sometimes made between a roundabout, where traffic in the circle has priority, and a traffic circle or rotary, a now mostly-obsolete form of junction where traffic in the circle must give way to vehicles entering the circle.

#### Synonyms

* (road junction): traffic circle (US, Canada), rotary (New England (US)), rotunda (Philippines), island (West Midlands (UK))
* (fairground ride): merry-go-round

#### Coordinate terms

* (road junction): pork chop island

#### Derived terms

* balcony roundabout
* bicycle roundabout
* magic roundabout
* mini-roundabout
* mini roundabout
* roundabout dog
* spiral roundabout
* swings and roundabouts
* turbo roundabout
* what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts

#### See also

* swings and roundabouts

### Verb

roundabout (third-person singular simple present roundabouts, present participle roundabouting, simple past and past participle roundabouted)
* To play on a roundabout (carousel)
* To travel round roundabouts
* To talk in a roundabout, indirect manner