roundabout

Everyday

1. A roundabout (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) is a circular junction where cars go around a middle island and leave at different roads (in the USA often a «traffic circle» or «rotary»). tree →
2. A roundabout in a playground is a round platform that spins while children ride on it (US: merry-go-round). tree →
3. A roundabout can be a fairground merry-go-round with horses. tree →
4. Roundabout as an adjective means not direct: a roundabout way. tree →

In the lessons

Safety: at a roundabout drivers give way to traffic already on it; pedestrians cross at crossings, not across the roundabout. Playground: hold on tight and don't jump off a spinning roundabout. Maths: a roundabout exit can be described by turns (quarter turn, half turn). Phrases: at the roundabout, take the second exit, a roundabout route.

Examples

• Take the second exit at the roundabout. tree →
• We spun round and round on the playground roundabout. tree →
• Hold on tight on the roundabout! tree →
• The bus went round the roundabout. tree →
• She told the story in a roundabout way. tree →
• Cars on the roundabout have right of way. tree →
• There was a certain town, the road to which was a very roundabout one. tree →

Note

One word. Countable. Meaning depends on country: in the UK it is mostly the road junction or playground ride; in the USA «merry-go-round». Traffic direction on a roundabout depends on the country: clockwise where people drive on the left, anticlockwise where they drive on the right.

In Jewish tradition

Safety: at a roundabout drivers give way to traffic already on it; pedestrians cross at crossings, not across the roundabout. Playground: hold on tight and don't jump off a spinning roundabout. Maths: a roundabout exit can be described by turns (quarter turn, half turn). Phrases: at the roundabout, take the second exit, a roundabout route.

Examples

• And the young man that kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came much people in a roundabout way by the hill-side. (Prophets 2SA.13.34, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

One word. Countable. Meaning depends on country: in the UK it is mostly the road junction or playground ride; in the USA «merry-go-round». Traffic direction on a roundabout depends on the country: clockwise where people drive on the left, anticlockwise where they drive on the right.