Etymology From round + about [from early 20th c.].
1
Indirect, circuitous, or circumlocutionary.
[S]he fled, running like a deer, doubling and turning through alleys and back streets until by a very roundabout road she reached her own room.1896, Robert Barr, “chapter9”, in From Whose Bourne:
"Really, Bill, I think your best plan would be to go straight to father and tell him the whole thing.—You don't want him to hear about it in a roundabout way."1920 March – 1921 February, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 17, in Indiscretions of Archie, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published 1921, →OCLC:
2 more examples
Mr. Rather flew to the area in a roundabout fashion, first landing in Bahrain, from there flying to Islamabad and then heading to Kabul by land.2001 December 3, Jim Rutenberg, “Rather Reports Another War”, in New York Times, retrieved 03 Apr 2014:
Descartes is compelled to fall back upon a curious roundabout argument to prove that there is a world. He must first prove that God exists, and then argue that God would not deceive us into thinking that it exists when it does not.2011, 50 Classic Philosophy Books, Golgotha Press, →ISBN:
2
Encircling; enveloping; comprehensive.
The third sort is of those who readily and sincerely follow reason, but for want of having that which one may call a large, sound, roundabout sense, have not a full view of all that relates to the question.1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC: