English

Alternative forms

• round-robin (attributive form)

Noun

round robin ‎(plural round robins)

1. The part of a tournament in which every player or team competes against each of the others in turn.
2. A petition signed in a circular fashion to disguise the order in which it was done.
   • 1731 The Gentleman's Magazine, Weekly Essays in June 1731, Craftman, Sat. June 5, No. 257, "round+robin" p. 238:

     … the Method used by Sailors when they mutiny, by signing their names in an orbicular manner, which they call a round Robin; …

3. A letter, with copies to multiple recipients, usually at Christmastime and often enclosed with a card, giving family news of interest to the sender.
4. (online gaming) A method of dividing loot amongst a party of players by having the game assign in turn loot to a player or an enemy corpse to loot to a player.
5. (philately) A form of trade, where collectors send a packet of stamps to the next person on a list, who then take the stamps they want and replace with similar valued stamps, and subsequently pass on the packet to the next person on the list, ultimately returning to the original sender.

Derived terms

• round-robining

References

1. ↑ Robert Hendrickson, Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, (Facts on File, New York, 1997), p. 580, quoted at The Phrase Finder, “Re: Round Robin”
2. ↑ E. Cobham Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1898, Round Robin
3. ↑ “round robin” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).