Hypertext Webster Gateway: "roundel"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Roundel \Roun"del\, n. [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.) 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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
roundel
n 1: English form of rondeau having three triplets with a refrain
after the first and third
2: round piece of armor plate that protects the armpit
3: a charge in the shape of a circle; a hollow roundel [syn: {annulet}]
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