Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ROUND, n.

1. A circle; a circular thing, or a circle in motion. With rounds of waxen tapers on their heads. Shak. Knit your hands, and beat the ground / In a light fantastic round. Milton.
2. Action or performance in a circle, or passing through a series of hands or things, and coming to the point of beginning; or the time of such action. Women to cards may be compared; we play / A round or two; when used, we throw away. Granville. The feast was serv'd; the bowl was crown'd; / To the king's pleasure went the mirthful round. Prior. So we say, a round of labors or duties. We run the daily round. Addison.
3. Rotation in office; succession in vicissitude. Holyday.
4. A rundle; the step of a ladder. All the rounds like Jacob's ladder rise. Dryden.
5. A walk performed by a guard or an officer round the rampart of a garrison, or among sentinels, to see that the sentinels are faithful and all things safe. Hence the officer and men who perform this duty are called the rounds. Encyc.
6. A dance; a sons; a roundelay, or a species of fugue. Davies.
7. A general discharge of fire-arms by a body of troops, in which each soldier fires once. In volleys, it is usual for a company or regiment to fire three rounds. A round of cartridges and balls, one cartridge to each man; as, to supply a regiment with a single round or with twelve rounds of cartridges. A round of beef, a cut of the thigh through and across the bone.