rounds

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of round.

   The negotiations dragged through several rounds before any deal emerged.

   The soldiers loaded fresh rounds into their rifles before the drill.

   Note

   An ordinary countable plural. Adding -s works for whichever sense of round is meant: rounds of applause, rounds of drinks, rounds sung by groups of singers. The spelling is shared with the verb. After a number or an article it is this noun (two rounds, the rounds of drinks). After a subject it is the verb (she rounds the corner).

2. 2
   nounplural

   The routine in which doctors go from patient to patient in a fixed order, whether on hospital wards or at patients' homes.

   The ward fell quiet whenever the consultant began his evening rounds.

   She scheduled her home rounds so the most fragile patients were seen first.

   Similarvisits

   Note

   Here the -s is part of the word, not a sign of number. This sense has no singular: a doctor goes on rounds or does the rounds, and even one morning's circuit of the ward is never a round. A watchman's patrol and the bell-ringer's term follow the same plural-only habit. That sets all three apart from the countable plural.

3. 3
   nounplural

   A fixed route traveled by someone in authority, such as a guard or patrol officer, in the course of their duties.

   The beat officer paused on his rounds to chat with the shopkeepers.

   The prison warders alternated rounds so no corridor went unwatched.

   Similarbeat, patrols

4. 4
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of round.

   The trail rounds the lake before climbing into the hills.

   The cashier rounds the total up when the change runs short.

   Note

   The -s form used after he, she or it, and it carries every sense of the verb. A path rounds a bend, a cashier rounds a total down, and a cornered animal rounds on its attacker. That last use always takes on. Sentence position separates it from the noun plural, which has the same spelling.

5. 5
   nounplural

   A descending diatonic scale sounded on a ring of tuned bells, ringing in order from the highest bell to the lowest.

   The band practiced rounds until each bell fell cleanly after the one before it.

   After the wedding the ringers struck rounds to send the couple off.

   Note

   A change ringer's term for the starting point of the art. Every bell sounds once in turn, from the treble down to the tenor, so the ring falls down a diatonic scale. Every method departs from rounds, and the band returns to them to close. The word therefore names both where a piece of ringing begins and where it comes home.

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