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

---

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.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

round up

Now they also realize they “don’t want these excesses, don’t want the federal government to come in and round up everyone, especially people that don’t have a criminal past.”

From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2026

McClain’s other passion was competing on horseback, showing off skills to round up calves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 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

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026

Uniformed men tried their best to round up the humans to stand near their lifeboats and be counted.

From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck

Related Words

• bring in
• bring together
• herd