ROUND-HOUSE. A name given in East Indiamen and other large merchant ships, to square cabins built on the after-part of the quarter-deck, and having the poop for its roof; such an apartment is frequently called the coach in ships of war. Round, because one can walk round it. In some trading vessels the round-house is built on the deck, generally abaft the main-mast.
ROUND-IN, To. To haul in on a fall; the act of pulling upon any slack rope which passes through one or more blocks in a direction nearly horizontal, and is particularly applied to the braces, as "Round-in the weather-braces." It is apparently derived from the circular motion of the rope about the sheave or pulley, through which it passes.
ROUNDING. A service wrapped round a spar or hawser. Also, old ropes wound firmly and closely about the layers of that part of a cable which lies in the hawse, or athwart the stem, &c. It is used to prevent the cable from being chafed. (See [Keckling] and [Service].)
ROUNDING-UP. Is to haul through the slack of a tackle which hangs in a perpendicular direction, without sustaining or hoisting any weighty body.
ROUNDLY. Quickly.
ROUND-RIBBED. A vessel of burden with very little run, and a flattish bottom, the ribs sometimes almost joining the keel horizontally.
ROUND ROBBIN [from the French ruban rond]. A mode of signing names in a circular form, after a complaint or remonstrance, so that no one can tell who signed first.
ROUNDS. General discharges of the guns. Cartridges are usually reckoned by rounds, including all the artillery to be used; as, fifty rounds of ammunition. Also, going round to inspect sentinels. The general visiting of the decks made by officers, to see that all is going on right. Also, the steps of a ladder.
ROUND SEAM. The edges or selvedges sewed together, without lapping.
ROUND SEIZING. This is made by a series of turns, with the end passed through the riders, and made fast snugly. In applying this the rope does not cross, but both parts are brought close together, and the seizing crossed.