run rings round someone Definition

ring¹
noun

1. A small circle or band of gold, silver or some other metal or material, worn on the finger.
2. A circle of metal, wood, plastic, etc, for holding, keeping in place, connecting, hanging, etc.
3. Any object, mark or figure which is circular in shape.

Thesaurus: enclosure, hoop, girdle, rim, halo, brim, collar, knot.
4. A circular course or route.

Thesaurus: circle, circuit, loop.
5. A group of people or things arranged in a circle.
6. An enclosed and usually circular area in which circus acts are performed.
7. A square area on a platform, marked off by ropes, where boxers or wrestlers fight.
8. Boxing as a profession.

Form: the ring
9. An enclosure for bookmakers at a race-course.
10. At agricultural shows, etc: an enclosure where cattle, horses, etc are paraded or exhibited for auction.
11. A group of people who act together to control eg an antiques or drugs market, betting, etc for their own advantage or profit.

Thesaurus: group, organization, party, faction, syndicate, bloc, monopoly, cartel, cabal, junta, gang, racket (slang).
12. A circular electric element or gas burner on top of a cooker.
13. A circular strip of bark cut from a tree. See ring-bark.
14. A circular mark, seen when a tree trunk is examined in section, that represents the amount of growth made by that tree in one year.
15. A segment of a worm, caterpillar, etc.
16. A circle of fungus growth in turf; a fairy ring.
17. chem.
A closed chain of atoms in a molecule, eg six-membered ring system.
18. geom.
The area lying between two concentric circles.
19. math.
A system of elements in which addition is associative and commutative, and multiplication is associative and distributive with respect to addition.
20. A thin band of particles orbiting some planets, such as Saturn and Uranus.
21. computing.
A computer system suitable for a LAN, with several micro-computers or peripheral devices connected by cable in a ring.

verb ringed, ringing

1. To make, form, draw, etc a ring round something, or to form it into a ring.

Thesaurus: encircle, surround, circumscribe, encompass, hem in, enclose, loop, gird, belt, confine.
2. To cut something into rings.
3. To put a ring on (a bird's leg) as a means of identifying it.
4. To fit a ring in (a bull's nose) so that it can be lead easily.
5. To ring-bark.

Derivative: ringed

Surrounded by, marked with, bearing or wearing a ring or rings.

Ring-shaped.

Made up of rings.

Idiom: make rings round someone (run rings round someone)

colloq
To beat them or be much better than them.
Thesaurus: outdo, outperform, surpass, beat, overtake, excel.

Idiom: throw one's hat into the ring

colloq
To offer oneself as a candidate or challenger.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon hring.