runround

Noun

runround (plural runrounds)

1. (US, dated, informal) A felon or whitlow.
   • This time it was my "runround;" and before she took off her bonnet, she had brought me a cup of ashes and water, and put my finger in soak.1871, Oliver Optic, Our Boys and Girls - Volumes 9-10, page 504
   • The ulcerative form resembles ingrowing nail, but in the syyphilitic disease the matrix is usually involved first, and not secondarily, as in ordinary ingrowing nail, or in common runround.1880, Edward Lawrence Keyes, The Venereal Diseases: Including Stricture of the Male Urethra, page 175
2. A route that loops around local rail yards for the transfer of goods (and sometimes used to turn cars around).
   • So far I had shared driving on station-pilots, runround trips, empty coaches and suburban passenger jobs.2018, Norman Hill, King's Cross Second Man: A Sixties Diesel Career
   • Two sidings – one a runround loop – were laid alongside the down platform at Severn Tunnel Junction station.2020, P D Rendall, Severn Tunnel Junction
3. A track arrangement (usually a loop) that allows mine cars to be redirected without reversing.
   • As the pithead (Fig. 15) had not been designed for large wide gauge cars it was necessary to replace the usual runround with a traverser.1954, Colliery Engineering - Volume 31, page 8
   • We are moving away from the normal type of runround.1955, Federated Institution of Mining Engineers - Volume 115, page 300
4. A circular area or platform on a ship.
   • From the runround to the ground there are 11 gerts. From the runround to the crow's nest there are 6 gerts.1941, Santa Barbara County Units of Study for Teachers, page 286
   • […] runround of tankers, supertankers and big slups of all types, this new dock is 80 feet long by 150 feet wide , and provision has been made for lengthening a to 1,900 feet.1962, Petroleum Times - Volume 66, Part 1, page 37
5. A woman's shoe with a rounded toe, flexible sole, and turned upper popular in the 19th century for dancing.
   • The gentlemen always wore "pumps" as they were called, that is, very light turned slippers without innersole or heel, the soles of the best specimens, being well pounded to make them soft and pliable; while the ladies wore a light shoe called a "runround," or "springheel," usually held snug in...1892, Parker Lindall Converse, 1642-1892: Legends of Woburn, page 52
   • Previous to the fifties, most of the shoes made were welts, or spring heels, and later most of the work changed to turns or "runrounds" as they were called.1912, The Register of the Lynn Historical Society
6. A quick tour of inspection.
   • These walls, so far as we could judge from a hasty runround, were well furnished with wall-trees, with an abundant crop, well set, and swelling off.1854, “Notes on Belfast Botanic Garden, and a Few Country Seats in the Counties Down and Antrim, Ireland”, in The Scottish Gardener, page 344
   • "We have just had a little run-round in the boat,” he explained, as they stepped ashore.2009, Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures