round robin

noun[before a noun]20

1. •
   The part of a tournament in which every player or team competes against each of the others in turn.
2. •
   A method of making use of several similar subsystems, assigning tasks to each of them in turn (for example, sending data to a destination down several communication links in turn to achieve greater combined speed).
3. •
   The MIDI technique of using different sampled versions of the same sound for successive notes, to avoid an unnaturally repetitive effect.

   • If you load a saxophone sound, for example, the library gives you the entire range of the instrument, with round robins, and a depth of velocity-triggered samples for each note. — 2019
4. •
   A group activity in which the members take turns to perform an action.
5. •
   (Internet) A method of dividing loot among a party of players by having the game assign loot, or an enemy corpse to loot, to each player in turn.
6. •
   A letter which is reproduced and sent to several people; specifically, one containing personal news sent at a particular time of year, often Christmas; a circular letter.
7. •
   A document (usually containing a complaint or petition) originally with the signatures arranged in a circle, and later often alphabetically, to disguise the order of signing and to indicate that the signatories are collectively responsible for it.

   • [T]he Method used by Sailors vvhen they mutiny, by signing their Names in an orbicular manner, vvhich they call, a round Robin; vvhence the Phrase, VVe have him as round as a Robin. — 1731
8. •
   A letter or piece of writing which is circulated among members of a group, to which each person makes a contribution before sending it to another person; also, a packet of letters circulated regularly in a fixed order among a group (often family members), whereby each person replaces their previous contribution with a new letter, and then sends the packet to the next recipient.
9. •
   A form of trading involving a packet of items which is circulated among members of a group, whereby each person take the items they want and replaces them with items of similar value, and then sends the packet to the next recipient.

   • Stamp collectors sometimes exchange stamps with each other using a round-robin method.
10. •
    A form of bet on the full set of possible combinations from a group of events, racehorses, teams, etc., such as the outcomes A and B, B and C, and A and C from a group consisting of A, B, and C.
11. •
    (figurative) A long, often tedious, list or piece of writing; a laundry list, a litany.
12. •
    (US, Caribbean) Any of various marine fish of the genus Decapterus often called scads which have a body with an almost round cross section, especially the round scad (Decapterus punctatus); also, any of various other fish regarded as having a somewhat round shape.
13. •
    A small ruff worn around the neck.
14. •
    (offensive) The consecrated host used in the Eucharist.

    • [T]he Sacrament of the Altar, is nothing else but a piece of bread, or a little predie Round-Robin. — 1659
15. •
    (no longer used, rare) A freshwater sunfish native to eastern North America, either the pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) or the redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus).
16. •
    (no longer used) A small pancake.
17. •
    (no longer used) The fishing frog or sea devil (Lophius piscatorius), a species of monkfish.
18. •
    (no longer used) Any of various hedgerow plants with pink flowers, especially a red campion (Silene dioica).
19. •
    (no longer used) A rim attached to the end of an axle of a horse carriage to prevent dirt from obstructing the axle's rotation; also, a loop from which a component of a horse carriage (such as a pole or spring) is suspended.
20. •
    (no longer used) A chiefly derogatory nickname for a man.