roundel Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun English form of rondeau having three triplets with a refrain after the first and third
  2. noun round piece of armor plate that protects the armpit
  3. noun (heraldry) a charge in the shape of a circle
    annulet.
    • a hollow roundel

WordNet

Roun"del noun
Etymology
OF. rondel a roundelay, F. rondel, rondeau, a dim. fr. rond; for sense 2, cf. F. rondelle a round, a round shield. See Round, a., and cf. Rondel, Rondelay.
Definitions
  1. (Mus.) A rondelay. "Sung all the roundel lustily." Chaucer.
    Come, now a roundel and a fairy song. Shak.
  2. Anything having a round form; a round figure; a circle.
    The Spaniards, casting themselves into roundels, . . . made a flying march to Calais. Bacon.
    Specifically: (a) A small circular shield, sometimes not more than a foot in diameter, used by soldiers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. (b) (Her.) A circular spot; a sharge in the form of a small circle. (c) (Fort.) A bastion of a circular form.

Webster 1913