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

See Examples For:

round up

Police and troops round up hundreds of people who remained after tens of thousands surged from Morocco into Ceuta.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

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

When she spots a hawk flying overhead, Davis calls for one of her two sons to be sure to round up the few chickens roaming around.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 24, 2026

Federal officials plan to round up wild horses roaming the Eastern Sierra, citing hazards and damage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026

“Free up Belle. We better get down there. Won’t be but a handful of folks to round up cattle with that town meeting.”

From "Worth" by A. LaFaye

Related Words

• bring in
• bring together
• herd