ROUND-ROBIN

The term 'round-robin' describes correspondence authored or signed by numerous individuals to a single address. For example a petition.
Colloquially, however, 'round-robin' is frequently given an opposite meaning, being used to describe a letter with a single author copied and sent to multiple recipients, for example the sending of family news at Christmas. This is more correctly termed a circular.
In sport, round-robin refers to every player or team in a ''group'' or ''pool'' taking turns to play one another a set number of times. This may be called the ''group stage'' (or ''phase'') of a tournament, prior to the ''knock-out stage''. (See Round-robin tournament for article).
In aviation, a round-robin flight is a cross-country flight which starts at one airport, travels to several other points for fly-over or touch-and-goes, and returns to the airport of origin. Such flights are often flown for cross-country training purposes.

Contents

Origin

See also

Origin

The modern use of the term dates from the 17th Century French ''ruban rond'' (''round ribbon'') ^[1][2]. This described the practice of signatories to petitions against authority (usually Government officials petitioning the Crown) appending their names on a document in a non-hierarchical circle or ribbon pattern (and so disguising the order in which they have signed) in order that none may be identified as a ringleader.
This practice was adopted by sailors petitioning officers in the British Royal Navy (first recorded 1731) .
The term round-robin is recorded in English much earlier, although not with the above meaning. It first appears in 1546 (with meaning unknown) and appears later applied to a category of person (precise meaning unknown):
''"These Wat Tylers and Round-Robins being driven or persuaded out of Whitehall"'' (1671).

See also

★ Round-robin scheduling

★ Round-robin tournament

★ Round robin DNS

★ Round-robin networks

★ Round-robin story

★ Round robin test

★ RRDtool - round-robin database tool

★ The character Willow in Buffy the Vampire Slayer explains a round-robin
Notes: 1. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable at Bartleby.com
2. OED cited at Phrases.org.uk