round up

verb

1. to gather (animals, suspects, etc) together

   to round ponies up

2. to raise (a number) to the nearest whole number or ten, hundred, or thousand above it Compare round down

noun

1. the act of gathering together livestock, esp cattle, so that they may be branded, counted, or sold
2. any similar act of collecting or bringing together

   a roundup of today's news

3. a collection of suspects or criminals by the police, esp in a raid

Idioms and Phrases

Collect or gather in a body, as in We'll have to round up some more volunteers for the food drive , or The police rounded up all the suspects . This term comes from the West, where since the mid-1800s it has been used for collecting livestock by riding around the herd and driving the animals together. By about 1875 it was extended to other kinds of gathering together.

Example Sentences

Solmaz says she has never seen police try to round up or dissuade the dealers who work around Khaneye Honarmanan.

From The Daily Beast

As soon as ISIS arrived in Tikrit, their first priority was to round up their enemies for slaughter.

From The Daily Beast

The U.S. government says Cliven Bundy owes $1 million in grazing fees and sent in contract cowboys to round up his cattle.

From The Daily Beast

These are some of the questions answered by this idiosyncratic round up of books concerned with the world beyond America.

From The Daily Beast

From Action Bronson to Questlove and Three Six Mafia, we round up the best (and weirdest) forays into the kitchen.

From The Daily Beast

If the Mounted Police are half as good man-hunters as they are said to be, they ought to round up that bunch in short order.

From Project Gutenberg

Deacon Pettybone was a busy man, organizing the forces of the Baptists, and seeking diligently to round up the votes of neutrals.

From Project Gutenberg

Scattergood went to see Mr. Linderman; McCann went out to round up five hundred shares of stock.

From Project Gutenberg

It'll take us an hour or two to round up and load the horses, but there's no need for you to wait.

From Project Gutenberg

The effect of the alteration has been to lengthen the keel, and perhaps to round up the forefoot a little.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bring in
• bring together
• herd