ring-around-a-rosy n a children's game in which the players dance around in a circle and at a given signal all squat Usage(s) The one exception in this ring-around-a-rosy is Government. Their growing movement makes Hands Across America look like a game of ring-around-a-rosy. Then, with the blazing cake before him, the Pope found himself the center of a dancing ring-around-a-rosy. Synonym(s) ring-around-the-rosy ring-a-rosy