round trip

round (“complete, entire"; "forming a circle or cycle”) +‎ trip (“journey”)

round trip (plural round trips)

1. (often figurative, travel) A trip from one destination to another and then returning to the starting location.

   Margaret purchased a single round trip ticket to and from Chicago, as it was cheaper than buying two one-way tickets.

   • 1950 July, J. G. Gibbons, “Sightseeing on the Inner Circle”, in Railway Magazine, page 485:

     The fare for this sightseeing tour of London is about 1s., but it is necessary to rebook at least once, as through tickets are not issued for the round trip.

2. In an oil-drilling operation, the raising, disassembly and replacement of the drilling equipment.
   • 2014, Exploring Tech Careers: Fourth Edition (page 632), Ferguson Publishing

     As drilling progresses, the bit gets more and more worn, till eventually it has to be replaced. In order for the bit to be replaced, the whole string has to be lugged up to the surface and taken apart section by section. Once done, the string can be put back together and the bit lowered to the well once again. This operation, called a round trip, takes most drilling crews 12 hours to complete.

3. (finance) A form of barter that involves the sale of an unused asset and the purchase of the same asset back again, or a similar one, typically used in accounting fraud.

   Synonym: lazy Susan

4. (finance) The investment of a borrowed overdraft in order to make a profit in the same market.
5. (computing) The export and eventual reimport of a file, data, etc. without loss of fidelity.

• one-way

• there and back

• protrudin