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Round vs Square - What's the difference?

round | square |

As adjectives the difference between round and square

is that round is (label) shape while square is shaped like a (the polygon).

As nouns the difference between round and square

is that round is a circular or spherical object or part of an object or round can be (archaic|or|dialectal|northern england|scotland) a whisper; whispering while square is (geometry) a polygon with four sides of equal length and four angles of 90 degrees; a regular quadrilateral whose angles are all 90 degrees.

As verbs the difference between round and square

is that round is to shape something into a curve or round can be (intransitive|archaic|or|dialectal|northern england|scotland) to speak in a low tone; whisper; speak secretly; take counsel while square is to adjust so as to align with or place at a right angle to something else.

As a preposition round

is alternative form of around.

As an adverb round

is .

round

English

(wikipedia round)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) ront, runt ( > French rond), representing an earlier , from (etyl) rotundus ( > Italian rotondo, Provençal redon, Spanish redondo etc.). The noun developed partly from the adjective and partly from the corresponding (etyl) noun rond. Compare rotund and rotunda.

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • (label) Shape.
  • # Circular or cylindrical; having a circular cross-section in one direction.
  • # Spherical; shaped like a ball; having a circular cross-section in more than one direction.
  • # Lacking sharp angles; having gentle curves.
  • # Plump.
  • #*
  • #*:If I close my eyes I can see Marie today as I saw her then. Round , rosy face, snub nose, dark hair piled up in a chignon.
  • Complete, whole, not lacking.
  • * (1809-1892)
  • Round was their pace at first, but slackened soon.
  • (label) Convenient for ing other numbers to; for example, ending in a zero.
  • (label) Pronounced with the lips drawn together.
  • Outspoken; plain and direct; unreserved; not mincing.
  • * (Matthew Arnold) (1822-1888)
  • the round assertion
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Sir Toby, I must be round with you.
  • Finished; polished; not defective or abrupt; said of authors or their writing style.
  • * (Henry Peacham) (1578-c.1644)
  • In his satires Horace is quick, round , and pleasant.
  • Consistent; fair; just; applied to conduct.
  • * (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • Round dealing is the honour of man's nature.
    Synonyms
    * (circular) circular, cylindrical, discoid * (spherical) spherical * (of corners that lack sharp angles) rounded * (plump) plump, rotund * (not lacking) complete, entire, whole * (of a number) rounded * (pronounced with the mouth open) rounded
    Derived terms
    * round angle
    Derived terms
    {{der3, roundabout , round dozen , round-table , round the clock , round trip , rounded vowel}}

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A circular or spherical object or part of an object.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:the golden round [the crown]
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:in labyrinth of many a round self-rolled
  • *
  • *:Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
  • *1955 , (William Golding), , Faber and Faber 2005, p.50:
  • *:All at once the sun was through, a round of dulled silver, racing slantwise through the clouds yet always staying in the same place.
  • A circular or repetitious route.
  • :
  • :
  • *, chapter=15
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round . But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.}}
  • A general outburst from a group of people at an event.
  • :
  • A song that is sung by groups of people with each subset of people starting at a different time.
  • A serving of something; a portion of something to each person in a group.
  • :
  • *(Charles Dickens), (Dombey and Son)
  • *:There is a snaky gleam in her hard grey eye, as of anticipated rounds of buttered toast, relays of hot chops, worryings and quellings of young children, sharp snappings at poor Berry, and all the other delights of her Ogress's castle.
  • A single individual portion or dose of medicine.
  • *2009 , Patrick Condon, "Boy with cancer, mom return home", Associated Press, printed in Austin American-Statesman , 2009 May 26, page A4:
  • *:Daniel underwent one round of chemotherapy in February but stopped after that single treatment, citing religious beliefs.
  • (lb) A long-bristled, circular-headed paintbrush used in oil and acrylic painting.
  • A firearm cartridge, bullet, or any individual ammunition projectile. Originally referring to the spherical projectile ball of a smoothbore firearm. Compare round shot and solid shot.
  • (lb) One of the specified pre-determined segments of the total time of a sport event, such as a boxing or wrestling match, during which contestants compete before being signaled to stop.
  • *April 19 2002 , Scott Tobias, AV Club Fightville [http://www.avclub.com/articles/fightville,72589/]
  • *:And though Fightville, an MMA documentary from the directors of the fine Iraq War doc Gunner Palace, presents it more than fairly, the sight of a makeshift ring getting constructed on a Louisiana rodeo ground does little to shake the label. Nor do the shots of ringside assistants with spray bottles and rags, mopping up the blood between rounds
  • (lb) A stage in a competition.
  • :
  • (lb) In some sports, e.g. golf or showjumping: one complete way around the course.
  • A rounded relief or cut at an edge, especially an outside edge, added for a finished appearance and to soften sharp edges.
  • A strip of material with a circular face that covers an edge, gap, or crevice for decorative, sanitary, or security purposes.
  • :
  • (lb) The hindquarters of a bovine.
  • (lb) A rung, as of a ladder.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:All the rounds like Jacob's ladder rise.
  • *1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby-Dick) ,
  • *:The perpendicular parts of this side ladder, as is usually the case with swinging ones, were of cloth-covered rope, only the rounds were of wood, so that at every step there was a joint.
  • A crosspiece that joins and braces the legs of a chair.
  • A series of changes or events ending where it began; a series of like events recurring in continuance; a cycle; a periodical revolution.
  • :
  • A course of action or conduct performed by a number of persons in turn, or one after another, as if seated in a circle.
  • * (1666-1735)
  • *:Women to cards may be compared: we play / A round or two; which used, we throw away.
  • *(Matthew Prior) (1664-1721)
  • *:The feast was served; the bowl was crowned; / To the king's pleasure went the mirthful round .
  • A series of duties or tasks which must be performed in turn, and then repeated.
  • *(John Keble) (1792-1866)
  • *:the trivial round , the common task
  • A circular dance.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Come, knit hands, and beat the ground, / In a light fantastic round .
  • Rotation, as in office; succession.
  • :(Holyday)
  • A general discharge of firearms by a body of troops in which each soldier fires once.
  • An assembly; a group; a circle.
  • :
  • A brewer's vessel in which the fermentation is concluded, the yeast escaping through the bunghole.
  • (lb) A vessel filled, as for drinking.
  • (lb) A round-top.
  • A round of beef.
  • Synonyms
    * (song) canon * (hindquarters of a bovine) rump
    Antonyms
    * (rounded inside edge) fillet
    Derived terms
    * round of applause

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Alternative form of around.
  • I look round the room quickly to make sure it's neat.
  • * Cowper
  • The serpent Error twines round human hearts.
    Derived terms
    * go round * look round

    Adverb

    (-)
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • The invitations were sent round accordingly.

    Verb

  • To shape something into a curve.
  • The carpenter rounded the edges of the table.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Worms with many feet, which round themselves into balls, are bred chiefly under logs of timber.
  • * Addison
  • The figures on our modern medals are raised and rounded to a very great perfection.
  • To become shaped into a curve.
  • * 1900 , , The House Behind the Cedars , Chapter I,
  • The girl's figure, he perceived, was admirably proportioned; she was evidently at the period when the angles of childhood were rounding into the promising curves of adolescence.
  • To finish; to complete; to fill out.
  • She rounded out her education with only a single mathematics class.
  • * Shakespeare
  • We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep.
  • To approximate a number, especially a decimal number by the closest whole number.
  • Ninety-five rounds up to one hundred.
  • To turn past a boundary.
  • Helen watched him until he rounded the corner.
  • To turn and attack someone or something (used with on ).
  • As a group of policemen went past him, one of them rounded on him, grabbing him by the arm.
  • (baseball) To advance to home plate.
  • And the runners round the bases on the double by Jones.
  • To go round, pass, go past.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=March 2 , author=Andy Campbell , title=Celtic 1 - 0 Rangers , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Diouf rounded Zaluska near the byeline and crossed but Daniel Majstorovic headed away and Celtic eventually mopped up the danger.}}
  • To encircle; to encompass.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The inclusive verge / Of golden metal that must round my brow.
  • To grow round or full; hence, to attain to fullness, completeness, or perfection.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The queen your mother rounds apace.
  • * Tennyson
  • So rounds he to a separate mind, / From whence clear memory may begin.
  • (obsolete) To go round, as a guard; to make the rounds.
  • * Milton
  • They nightly rounding walk.
  • (obsolete) To go or turn round; to wheel about.
  • (Tennyson)
    Derived terms
    * round off * round out * round up * round down

    See also

    * 'round

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) rounen, from (etyl) . More at (l).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (intransitive, archaic, or, dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To speak in a low tone; whisper; speak secretly; take counsel.
  • (transitive, archaic, or, dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To address or speak to in a whisper, utter in a whisper.
  • (Shakespeare)
    (Holland)
  • * Calderwood
  • The Bishop of Glasgow rounding' in his ear, "Ye are not a wise man," he ' rounded likewise to the bishop, and said, "Wherefore brought ye me here?"

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) roun, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic, or, dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A whisper; whispering.
  • (archaic, or, dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Discourse; song.
  • square

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (geometry) A polygon with four sides of equal length and four angles of 90 degrees; a regular quadrilateral whose angles are all 90 degrees.
  • * (rfdate)
  • I took refuge in the square form and exhibited a picture which consisted of nothing more than a black square on a white field.
  • An L- or T-shaped tool used to place objects or draw lines at right angles.
  • There are so many uses for the square , in fact, that a new model will usually come complete with a booklet enumerating its applications. - The Carpenter's Square
  • An open space in a town, not necessarily square in shape, often containing trees, seating and other features pleasing to the eye.
  • * Addison
  • The statue of Alexander VII. stands in the large square of the town.
  • * (rfdate)
  • You're not in Wisconsin, Dave. The big story isn't about a cow wandering into the town square .
  • A cell in a grid.
  • You may not move a piece to a square already occupied by one of your own pieces.
  • (mathematics) The second power of a number, value, term or expression.
  • 64 is the square of 8.
  • (military) A body of troops drawn up in a square formation.
  • * Shakespeare
  • the brave squares of war
  • * 1990 , (Peter Hopkirk), The Great Game , Folio Society 2010, p. 144:
  • After disastrous attempts to break the Russian squares , during which, Longworth recounts, ‘the best and the bravest of the warriors fell victim to their own rashness’, the Circassians likewise changed their tactics.
  • (slang) A socially conventional person; typically associated with the 1950s
  • *
  • Why do you always wear a tie? Don't be such a square !
  • (British) The symbol # on a telephone; hash.
  • Enter your account number followed by a square .
  • (cricket) The central area of a cricket field, with one ore more pitches of which only one is used at a time.
  • An ideal playing area is roughly circular in shape with a central area, the cricket square , measuring 27.44 metres by 27.44 metres and boundaries 45.75 metres from the sides of the square.
  • (real estate jargon) A unit of measurement of area, equal to a 10 foot by 10 foot square, ie. 100 square feet or roughly 9.3 square metres. Used in real estate for the size of a house or its rooms, though progressively being replaced by square metres in metric countries such as Australia.
  • 2006: Just as the basic unit of real estate measurement across the world is the square ... — (Macquarie Bank) (Australia), press release Macquarie releases Real Estate Market Outlook 2006 - "The World Squared" , 21 June 2006 [http://www.macquarie.com.au/au/about_macquarie/media_centre/20060621.htm]
    2007: The house is very large and open and boasts 39 squares' of living space plus over 13 '''squares''' of decking area on 3 sides and 17 ' squares of garage and workshop downstairs. — Your Estate advertisement for Grindelwald Tasmania [http://www.yourestate.com.au/property_12753.php]
  • (roofing) A unit used in measuring roof area equivalent to 100 square feet (9.29 m2) of roof area.
  • (North America) A dessert cut into rectangular pieces, or a piece of such a dessert.
  • (academia) A mortarboard
  • (colloquial, US) A square meal.
  • ''Even when times were tough, we got three squares a day.
  • A pane of glass.
  • (printing) A certain number of lines, forming a portion of a column, nearly square; used chiefly in reckoning the prices of advertisements in newspapers.
  • (archaic) Exact proportion; justness of workmanship and conduct; regularity; rule.
  • * Hooker
  • They of Galatia [were] much more out of square .
  • * Shakespeare
  • I have not kept my square .
  • The relation of harmony, or exact agreement; equality; level.
  • * Dryden
  • We live not on the square with such as these.
  • (astrology) The position of planets distant ninety degrees from each other; a quadrate.
  • (dated) The act of squaring, or quarrelling; a quarrel.
  • The front of a woman's dress over the bosom, usually worked or embroidered.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (lb) .
  • Synonyms

    * (polygon) (rare) tetragon * (L-shaped tool) steel square, framing square, carpenter's square * (open space) piazza, plaza * (socially conventional person) see * hash, sharp, (US) pound sign

    Derived terms

    * carpenter's square * chi-square * combination square * difference of two squares * four square * framing square * goal square * kid on the square * Latin square * machinist square * magic square * market square * mean square * miter square * on the square * optical square * over square * perfect square * public square * Punnett square * set square * square bashing * squareless * square one * square-pushing * square tab shingle * steel square * T-square * three-square * town square * try square * under square * word square

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Shaped like a (the polygon).
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century,
  • Forming a right angle, especially (nautical) at right angles with the mast or the keel, and parallel to the horizon; said of the yards of a square-rigged vessel when they are so braced.
  • a square corner
  • Used in the names of units of area formed by multiplying a unit of length by itself.
  • Honest; straightforward.
  • square dealing
  • Fair.
  • to make or leave the accounts square
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • (senseid)(slang) Socially conventional; boring.
  • (cricket) In line with the batsman's popping crease.
  • Correctly aligned with respect to something else.
  • hearty; vigorous
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • By Heaven, square eaters. More meat, I say.
  • Having a shape broad for the height, with angular rather than curving outlines.
  • a man of a square frame

    Synonyms

    * above board, on the level, on the square, on the up and up, straight * (socially conventional) bourgeois

    Derived terms

    (Terms derived from the adjective "square") * all square * be there or be square * fair and square * square bracket * square centimetre, square centimeter * square circle * square dancing * square deal * square drive * square flipper/squareflipper * square foot * squarehead * square inch * square leg * square knot * square matrix * square meal * square metre, square meter * square mile * square number * square pyramid * square rod * square root * square sail * square shooter * square-shouldered * square-toed * square wave * square yard * squarely * squareness * T-squared

    Verb

    (squar)
  • To adjust so as to align with or place at a right angle to something else.
  • The casting was mounted on a milling machine so that its sides could be squared .
  • To resolve.
  • John can square this question up for us.
    These results just don't square .
  • To adjust or adapt so as to bring into harmony with something.
  • I cannot square the results of the experiment with my hypothesis.
    ''to square our actions by the opinions of others
  • * Milton
  • Square my trial / To my proportioned strength.
  • (mathematics) Of a value, term or expression, to multiply by itself; to raise to the second power.
  • To draw, with a pair of compasses and a straightedge only, a with the same area as.
  • square the circle
  • (soccer) To make a short low pass sideways across the pitch
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=December 10 , author=David Ornstein , title=Arsenal 1 - 0 Everton , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=First, former Toffee Mikel Arteta sent Walcott racing clear but instead of shooting he squared towards Ramsey, who was foiled by Tony Hibbert.}}
  • (archaic) To take opposing sides; to quarrel.
  • To accord or agree exactly; to be consistent with; to suit; to fit.
  • * Cowper
  • No works shall find acceptance that square not truly with the Scripture plan.
  • (obsolete) To go to opposite sides; to take an attitude of offense or defense, or of defiance; to quarrel.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Are you such fools / To square for this?
  • To take a boxing attitude; often with up'' or ''off .
  • (Dickens)
  • To form with four sides and four right angles.
  • (Spenser)
  • To form with right angles and straight lines, or flat surfaces.
  • to square mason's work
  • To compare with, or reduce to, any given measure or standard.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (astrology) To hold a quartile position respecting.
  • * Creech
  • the icy Goat and Crab that square the Scales
  • (nautical) To place at right angles with the keel.
  • to square the yards

    Derived terms

    (terms derived from the verb "square") * square away * square off * square up * square with * square the circle

    Synonyms

    * (to multiply by itself)

    See also

    * (wikipedia "square") * cubic * quadrilateral * rectangle * rhombus 1000 English basic words ----