round robin, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

round robin n.

[SE round robin, a document, typically a complaint or petition, in which the signatories place their names in a circle, thus hiding any form of hierarchy]

1. the host (in communion).

1563		Fox Acts and Monuments 523: in Oliphant New Eng. i 550: Scurrilous Protestants used to call the Host round robin; we apply the phrase to petitions [F&H].
1661		Heylin Reformation i 99: Reproached it [the Sacrament] by the odious names of Jack-in-a-box, Round Robin, Sacrament of the Halter [F&H].

2. a complainant, a petitioner.

1563

see sense 1.

3. a swindle.

1889

Clarkson & Richardson Police! 341: There are also long firm swindlers. They and their female helpers [...] take a house, furnish it, and then go in for a ‘round robin’ or good heavy swindle.

4. (Aus. und.) a form of burglar’s tool.

1895

C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 68: Round Robin, [...] a burglar’s instrument.