ˈround-house, n.
[In sense 1 app. f. round n.1 14 b (cf. Du. rondhuis guard-house); in other senses f. round a.]
1. A lock-up; a place of detention for arrested persons. Now only Hist.
| 1589 in Antiquary XXXII. 373 [Rent of] the rounde house, iiijd. 1684 She-Wedding (title-p.), For which Fact the said Parties were both Committed, and one of them remains now in the Round House at Greenwich. 1697 Vanbrugh Prov. Wife iv. i, Out of respect to your calling, I shan't put you into the round-house. 1707 Cibber Double Gallant i. I sit up every night at the Tavern: and in the Morning lie rough in the Round-house. 1791 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Remonstrance Wks. 1812 II. 455 Thence at the Round-house, in about an hour Renews his poor debilitated power Of comprehending. 1817 M. Edgeworth Harrington (1832) 17 The beggars..were led in captivity to round-houses. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge lxxiv, Mr. Dennis, having been made prisoner late in the evening, was removed to a neighbouring round-house for that night. 1863 Kingsley Water-Babies v, Put him in the round house till he gets sober. |
| attrib. 1747 Hoadly Suspicious Husb. ii. iv, If this should prove a Round-House Affair. |
2. Naut. a. A cabin or set of cabins on the afterpart of the quarter-deck (cf. quot. 1769).
More recently, in use only on old sailing vessels (where it forms the quarters of the sailmakers, carpenters, and apprentices), and in connexion with Board of Trade tonnage measurements, when it generally includes all cabins built on deck. (N.E.D.)
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 10 The Captaines Cabben or great Cabben, the stearage, the halfe Decke, the round house, the Forecastle. 1627 ― Seaman's Gram. ii. 6 The Masters Cabin called the round house..is the vtmost of all. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 126 The Guns in the Fore-castle and steerage clear the Deck, as those of the Round-house do the Quarter deck. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 28 We..secured the Steerage, as also the roundhouse, so that we could not possibly be surprised. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Round-house, a name given, in East-Indiamen, and other large merchant-ships, to a cabin..built in the after part of the quarter-deck, and having the poop for it's roof. The apartment is usually called the coach in our ships of war. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 229 One of my cabin-windows (for I had half the round-house) was open. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xiv, The steersman at the wheel paused and smiled, as the picture-like head gleamed through the window of the round-house. 1906 Temple Bar Jan. 76 The reefers in the half-deck also start their sing-song, and the supernumeraries, in ‘the round-house’, make what melody they can. |
| attrib. 1846 Young Naut. Dict. s.v., The beams on which the poop rests are called the round-house beams. |
b. (See quot. c 1850.)
| 1808 J. Davis Post Captain (ed. 3) i. 5, I..was obliged to get up in the night to go to the roundhouse. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 143 Round-house at the Head, conveniences or seats of ease for the officers. |
3. a. A round shed or building in which machinery is worked by circular movement.
| 1656 W. Dugard tr. Comenius' Gate Lat. Unl. 133 Hee that..turneth about a draw-beam with levers; or walking in the round-hous whirleth the crane. 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-Bk. s.v., Few farms are without a round-house in which the horses go round and round. 1971 Country Life 11 Nov. 1325/1 An example..is a farm building specifically termed the wheelhouse, but more popularly known as roundhouse or gin gan. |
b. Part of a windmill (see quot.).
| 1876 J. H. Ewing Jan of the Windmill iii, The projection is..an additional passage, encircling the bottom story of the windmill. It is the round-house. The round-house is commonly used as a kind of store-room. |
4. orig. U.S. A circular shed for locomotives, with a turn-table in the centre. Also fig. and attrib.
| 1856 W. Ferguson Amer. by River & Rail 249 The engine-house..is open in the centre; and this arrangement..is much less expensive, than the ‘round house’, where all is covered in. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1994/2. 1881 Scribner's Mag. XXII. 833 The narrow-gauge of the N.P.C.R.R. crawls like a snake from the ferry on the bay to the roundhouse over and beyond the hills. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 225, I found a quiet corner to sleep in, in the round-house, as they call the engine-sheds. 1895 Rep. Chicago Strike 1894 (U.S. Strike Comm.) 214 A number of switch tenders, yard clerks, flagmen, tower men, and roundhouse men left their work. 1945 F. H. Hubbard Railroad Avenue ii. 10 Many runners considered it smart to keep roundhouse work on an engine down to a minimum—the fewer the defects they reported, the better standing they had at the roundhouse. 1953 Manch. Guardian Weekly 5 Nov. 15/1 This restoration of power [over the money supply] was hailed by a writer in ‘Harper's Magazine’ as a..guarantee that ‘the engine of inflation has been stowed firmly in the roundhouse’. 1966 M. R. D. Foot SOE in France ix. 269 Six large engines in the Troyes locomotive roundhouse. 1980 Dædalus Spring 121 Myths provide a conceptual system through which we may understand..a roundhouse where we can move from the track of one person's reality to another's. |
5. a. U.S. Baseball. A pitch made with a sweeping side-arm motion. Also attrib.
| 1910 Amer. Mag. June 224/2 The first curves discovered were of the variety now known as the ‘barrel hoop’ or ‘round house’. 1912 C. Mathewson Pitching 19 When I first joined the Giants, I had what is known as the ‘old round-house curve’, which is no more than a big, slow outdrop. 1926 Amer. Speech I. 369/2 Pitched balls are designated by obvious terms. A ‘spitter’, a ‘hook’,..a ‘round-house’. |
b. slang (orig. U.S.). A blow delivered with a wide sweep of the arm. Freq. attrib., esp. as roundhouse left, round-house right. Also fig.
| 1920 Collier's Mag. 3 July 34/4 He swung a roundhouse left, square to the Kid's unprotected face. 1927 Daily Express 16 Dec. 3 It is necessary to take the [golf] ball cleanly, and with something akin to a ‘round-house’ swing from this position. 1932 J. T. Farrell Young Lonigan iii. 133 They fought, slugging, socking away, rushing, swinging with haymakers and wild swishing roundhouses. 1945 Tee Emm (Air Ministry) V. 51 Discourage him by jabbing his snout or gills with an oar,..and don't take round-house swings that may upset you. 1946 Sun (Baltimore) 14 Dec. 2/6 Mr. Collins leaped to his feet and swung a round-house right at the witness. 1948 Ibid. 12 May 17/6 Trainer Jimmy Jones obviously was disappointed at failure to have Coaltown [sc. a horse] on hand to deliver Columet's [sic] winning jab and round⁓house... Jimmy will saddle the Calumet starter. 1958 J. Kerouac On Road iv. 126 Damion's girl suddenly socked Damion on the jaw with a roundhouse right. 1967 Boston Herald 1 Apr. 17/7 Harris built up an early lead over the baffled 29-year-old veteran with his roundhouse blows. 1976 M. Machlin Pipeline lvii. 573 Doheny's arm drew back, as though to launch a roundhouse upper⁓cut. |
Hence ˈround-house v., (a) to confine in a round-house; (b) slang, to hit (a person) with a round-house blow.
| 1889 Conan Doyle Micah Clarke xiii. 117, I have been round-housed many a time by the watch. 1974 W. Garner Big Enough Wreath xi. 137 She roundhoused Smith with a white plastic handbag that must have had a brick in it. |
______________________________
Add: [3.] c. Archæol. A circular structure believed to have been a house, known esp. in Britain from remains of Bronze or Iron Age date.
| 1948 Proc. Prehistoric Soc. XIV. 69 This roundhouse is situated on the steep eastern coast of South Uist. 1987 London Archaeologist Winter 349/2 Of particular importance for the prehistoric period was the discovery of evidence for numerous round-houses. |