The term round-robin describes correspondence to a single address authored or signed by numerous individuals (as found in a petition).

Colloquially, however, 'round-robin' is frequently given an opposite meaning, being used to describe a letter with an author copied and sent to multiple recipients. For example, the sending of family news at Christmas. This is more correctly termed a circular, or informally, a 'brag & gag' ^[1]. Also get togethers among friends/neighbors where each course is held in a different house, commonly during the Christmas season, is also called a round-robin. This is more usually referred to as a progressive supper.

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.

[edit] Origin

The modern use of the term dates from the 17th Century French ruban rond (round ribbon) ^[2][3]. 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 ring leader.

This practice was adopted by sailors petitioning officers in the Royal Navy (first recorded 1731)^[3] .

The term round-robin is recorded in English much earlier, although not with the above meaning. It first appears in 1546 meaning someone who is round and called Robin, and appears later applied to a category of person with the precise meaning unknown: "These Wat Tylers and Round-Robins being driven or persuaded out of Whitehall" (1671)^[3].

[edit] See also

• Fiery cross, the English language term for a piece of wood, such as a baton, that Scotsmen and Scandinavians used to send to rally people for defence or rebellion if beacons were not appropriate.
• Round Robin, type of bet covering three selections
• Round-robin scheduling
• Round-robin tournament
• Round robin DNS
• Round-robin networks
• Round-robin story
• Round robin test
• RRDtool - round-robin database tool
• One (of several) orders in which players take their turns in a turn-based game.

Notes:

1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/22/magazine/molly-o-neill.html]
2. ^ Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable at Bartleby.com
3. ^ ^{a b c} OED cited at Phrases.org.uk