/ · 1894 Brewer’s · R · Round (To)
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To whisper. (Anglo-Saxon, runian; German, raunen, to whisper.) (See Rounded.)
That lesson which I will round you in the ear—which I will whisper in your ear. (Bunyan: Pilgrim’s Progress.)
“France … rounded in the ear with [by] … commodity [self-interest] hath resolved to [on] a most base … peace.”—Shakespeare: King John, ii. 1.
“And ner the feend he drough as nought ne were,
Ful privëly, and rounëd in his eere,
‘Herkë my brother, herkë, by thi faith . .
Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, 7132.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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