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round and round

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Adverb

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round and round (not comparable)

  1. In a repeated circular motion.
    • 1807, Washington Irving, William Irving and James Kirke Paulding, “From the Mill of Pindar Cockloft, Esq. (Notes, by William Wizard, Esq.: Waltz)”, in Salmagundi, number VII:
      The whole economy of this dance consists in turning round and round the room in a certain measured step ; and it is truly astonishing that this continued revolution does not set all their heads swimming like a top ; but I have been positively assured that it only occasions a gentle sensation which is marvellously agreeable.
  2. (figurative) Following the same course repeatedly in vain.
    • 1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, “Chapter 9 (“Town and Todgers’s”)”, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, [], published 1844, →OCLC:
      Instances were known of people who, being asked to dine at Todgers’s, had travelled round and round for a weary time, with its very chimney–pots in view ; and finding it, at last, impossible of attainment, had gone home again with a gentle melancholy on their spirits, tranquil and uncomplaining.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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