Category:Roundel

Roun"del, n. Etym: [of. rondel a roundelay, f. rondel, rondeau, a Dim. fr. rond; for sense 2, cf. F. rondelle a round, a round shield. See round, a., and cf. Rondel, rondelay.]

1. (mus.)

Defn: a rondelay. "sung all the roundel lustily." Chaucer. Come, now a roundel and a fairy song. Shak.

2. Anything having a round form; a round figure; a circle. The spaniards, casting themselves into roundels,. . . made a flying March to calais. Bacon. Specifically: (a) a small circular shield, sometimes not more than a foot in Diameter, used by soldiers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. (b) (her.) A circular spot; a sharge in the form of a small circle. (c) (fort.) A bastion of a circular form.