A round robin is a competition where everybody plays everybody. A round robin group, play a round robin, round robin format.
It is fairer than a knockout because one bad day does not end your tournament, and slower for the same reason. The name came from a petition signed in a circle so that no name headed the list and nobody could be blamed as ringleader.
1nounround robinA competition in which everybody plays everybody.
“The chess club holds a round robin each winter, so you face every other member once.”
round robin is a format.
From a petition signed in a circle, so no name stood at the head of the list and no one could be picked out as ringleader.
Proto-Indo-European
*Hreth₂-
French
ruban rond
English, today
round robin
From round + robin. round (“senses relating to something with a round shape, or which goes around”) is connected with the word round, while animals or plants (“senses relating to people, animals, or plants”) is connected with some English regional senses of the word robin where it is used in the names of various fish and plants which are not related to the red-breasted bird. However, apart from the alliteration, it is not clear why the two words came to be linked together in compounds. It is possible that the term was first used to refer to host (“consecrated host”) which appears to be the earliest attested sense, and then extended to other senses either having the sense of round or robin. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the term is a corruption of French ruban rond literally “round ribbon”, referring to the practice in 17th-century France of signing on ribbons which were then attached to petitions of grievances in a circular manner: see document. However, this etymology does not explain the senses of the term unrelated to a signed document.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Games & Toys, Chess & Card Games