in the round

in the round

1. (sculpture) Not attached to a background.
   • 2012 [1920], “The Essence of Sculpture”, in Deborah Shannon, transl., edited by Jon Wood, David Hulks, and Alex Potts, Modern Sculpture Reader, Getty Publications, translation of Das Wesen der Bildhauerei by Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, →ISBN, page 76:

     Not so the sculpture in the round: it stands in ordinary space with the other bodies, a body like them. We must hold fast to this outcome; it will allow us to explain the true essence of sculpture, the designation we confer on sculpture in the round alone. Painting and relief create their own space.

2. (theater) Having a stage completely surrounded by an audience.
   • 1982, Jack Mitchley, Peter Spalding, Five Thousand Years of Theatre, Batsford Academic and Educational:

     There is another sense in which we can say that theatre begins in the round. Teachers in schools frequently observe that the dramatic play of children and their early attempts at theatre frequently take a natural in-the-round shape.

   • 2019, Donatella Galella, America in the Round: Capital, Race, and Nation at Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage, University of Iowa Press, →ISBN, page 15:

     By staging national identity “in the round,” Arena opens up multifaceted perspectives of who comprises the nation and under what circumstances. Finchandler observed: “Since it has no back, front or sides, the arena becomes a highly democratic form for the audience, […] .”

   • 2022 September 6, Fiona Shepherd, “Music review: Arcade Fire, Hydro, Glasgow”, in The Scotsman‎:

     Down in the arena, though, it was business as semi-normal with the band members making their traditional promenade through the crowd to a small in-the-round stage with a colourful player piano taking up most of the room.

3. (knitting) Done with circular needles, so as to create tubes of fabric.
   • 2015, Heather Walpole, “Super Simple Cowl”, in Scarves in the Round […] , Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 4:

     Loosely cast on 90 stitches. Place stitch marker and join to work in the round, being careful not to twist the cast-on stitches.

4. (figurative) In full detail; from all angles.
   • 2023 January 1, John Harris, quoting Jeremy Hunt, “The wreckage of Brexit is all around us. How long can our politicians indulge in denial?”, in The Guardian‎:

     The government responds to such news with its usual ludicrous evasions: “I don’t deny there are costs to a decision like Brexit,” said Jeremy Hunt in November, “but there are also opportunities, and you have to see it in the round.”