round up

British  

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

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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

round up Idioms  

1. 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.

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Example Sentences

A core of Minneapolis activists is playing a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with the federal agents deployed in force to the midwestern city to round up undocumented immigrants.

From Barron's • Jan. 28, 2026

Last year, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management approved a plan to round up and remove hundreds of the horses roaming beyond the territory designated for them along the California and Nevada border.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026

Staff called on Shelley Ridgeon, a stray dog collection officer contracted by Fenland District Council, to help round up the animals.

From BBC • Jan. 10, 2026

In other words, round up the usual suspects.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 11, 2025

Every few months, Mrs. Wilkinson would round up the neighborhood children and distribute the sample toys Mr. Wilkinson had accumulated.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Related Words

• bring in
• bring together
• herd