from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Run \Run\ (r[u^]n), v. i. [imp. {Ran} (r[a^]n) or {Run}; p. p.
{Run}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Running}.] [OE. rinnen, rennen (imp.
ran, p. p. runnen, ronnen). AS. rinnan to flow (imp. ran, p.
p. gerunnen), and iernan, irnan, to run (imp. orn, arn, earn,
p. p. urnen); akin to D. runnen, rennen, OS. & OHG. rinnan,
G. rinnen, rennen, Icel. renna, rinna, Sw. rinna, r[aum]nna,
Dan. rinde, rende, Goth. rinnan, and perh. to L. oriri to
rise, Gr. 'orny`nai to stir up, rouse, Skr. [.r] (cf.
{Origin}), or perh. to L. rivus brook (cf. {Rival}).
[root]11. Cf. {Ember}, a., {Rennet}.]
1. To move, proceed, advance, pass, go, come, etc., swiftly,
smoothly, or with quick action; -- said of things animate
or inanimate. Hence, to flow, glide, or roll onward, as a
stream, a snake, a wagon, etc.; to move by quicker action
than in walking, as a person, a horse, a dog.
Specifically:
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2. Of voluntary or personal action:
(a) To go swiftly; to pass at a swift pace; to hasten.
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"Ha, ha, the fox!" and after him they ran.
--Chaucer.
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(b) To flee, as from fear or danger.
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As from a bear a man would run for life. --Shak.
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(c) To steal off; to depart secretly.
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(d) To contend in a race; hence, to enter into a contest;
to become a candidate; as, to run for Congress.
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Know ye not that they which run in a race run
all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that
ye may obtain. --1 Cor. ix.
24.
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(e) To pass from one state or condition to another; to
come into a certain condition; -- often with in or
into; as, to run into evil practices; to run in debt.
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Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast, to
rend my heart with grief and run distracted?
--Addison.
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(f) To exert continuous activity; to proceed; as, to run
through life; to run in a circle.
(g) To pass or go quickly in thought or conversation; as,
to run from one subject to another.
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Virgil, in his first Georgic, has run into a set
of precepts foreign to his subject. --Addison.
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(h) To discuss; to continue to think or speak about
something; -- with on.
(i) To make numerous drafts or demands for payment, as
upon a bank; -- with on.
(j) To creep, as serpents.
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3. Of involuntary motion:
(a) To flow, as a liquid; to ascend or descend; to course;
as, rivers run to the sea; sap runs up in the spring;
her blood ran cold.
(b) To proceed along a surface; to extend; to spread.
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The fire ran along upon the ground. --Ex. ix.
23.
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(c) To become fluid; to melt; to fuse.
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As wax dissolves, as ice begins to run.
--Addison.
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Sussex iron ores run freely in the fire.
--Woodward.
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(d) To turn, as a wheel; to revolve on an axis or pivot;
as, a wheel runs swiftly round.
(e) To travel; to make progress; to be moved by mechanical
means; to go; as, the steamboat runs regularly to
Albany; the train runs to Chicago.
(f) To extend; to reach; as, the road runs from
Philadelphia to New York; the memory of man runneth
not to the contrary.
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She saw with joy the line immortal run,
Each sire impressed, and glaring in his son.
--Pope.
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(g) To go back and forth from place to place; to ply; as,
the stage runs between the hotel and the station.
(h) To make progress; to proceed; to pass.
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As fast as our time runs, we should be very glad
in most part of our lives that it ran much
faster. --Addison.
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(i) To continue in operation; to be kept in action or
motion; as, this engine runs night and day; the mill
runs six days in the week.
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When we desire anything, our minds run wholly on
the good circumstances of it; when it is
obtained, our minds run wholly on the bad ones.
--Swift.
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(j) To have a course or direction; as, a line runs east
and west.
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Where the generally allowed practice runs
counter to it. --Locke.
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Little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason. --Shak.
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(k) To be in form thus, as a combination of words.
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The king's ordinary style runneth, "Our
sovereign lord the king." --Bp.
Sanderson.
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(l) To be popularly known; to be generally received.
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Men gave them their own names, by which they run
a great while in Rome. --Sir W.
Temple.
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Neither was he ignorant what report ran of
himself. --Knolles.
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(m) To have growth or development; as, boys and girls run
up rapidly.
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If the richness of the ground cause turnips to
run to leaves. --Mortimer.
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(n) To tend, as to an effect or consequence; to incline.
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A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds.
--Bacon.
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Temperate climates run into moderate
governments. --Swift.
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(o) To spread and blend together; to unite; as, colors run
in washing.
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In the middle of a rainbow the colors are . . .
distinguished, but near the borders they run
into one another. --I. Watts.
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(p) To have a legal course; to be attached; to continue in
force, effect, or operation; to follow; to go in
company; as, certain covenants run with the land.
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Customs run only upon our goods imported or
exported, and that but once for all; whereas
interest runs as well upon our ships as goods,
and must be yearly paid. --Sir J.
Child.
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(q) To continue without falling due; to hold good; as, a
note has thirty days to run.
(r) To discharge pus or other matter; as, an ulcer runs.
(s) To be played on the stage a number of successive days
or nights; as, the piece ran for six months.
(t) (Naut.) To sail before the wind, in distinction from
reaching or sailing closehauled; -- said of vessels.
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4. Specifically, of a horse: To move rapidly in a gait in
which each leg acts in turn as a propeller and a
supporter, and in which for an instant all the limbs are
gathered in the air under the body. --Stillman (The Horse
in Motion).
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5. (Athletics) To move rapidly by springing steps so that
there is an instant in each step when neither foot touches
the ground; -- so distinguished from walking in athletic
competition.
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{As things run}, according to the usual order, conditions,
quality, etc.; on the average; without selection or
specification.
{To let run} (Naut.), to allow to pass or move freely; to
slacken or loosen.
{To run after}, to pursue or follow; to search for; to
endeavor to find or obtain; as, to run after similes.
--Locke.
{To run away}, to flee; to escape; to elope; to run without
control or guidance.
{To run away with}.
(a) To convey away hurriedly; to accompany in escape or
elopement.
(b) To drag rapidly and with violence; as, a horse runs
away with a carriage.
{To run down}.
(a) To cease to work or operate on account of the
exhaustion of the motive power; -- said of clocks,
watches, etc.
(b) To decline in condition; as, to run down in health.
{To run down a coast}, to sail along it.
{To run for an office}, to stand as a candidate for an
office.
{To run in} or {To run into}.
(a) To enter; to step in.
(b) To come in collision with.
{To run into} To meet, by chance; as, I ran into my brother
at the grocery store.
{To run in trust}, to run in debt; to get credit. [Obs.]
{To run in with}.
(a) To close; to comply; to agree with. [R.] --T. Baker.
(b) (Naut.) To make toward; to near; to sail close to; as,
to run in with the land.
{To run mad}, {To run mad after} or {To run mad on}. See
under {Mad}.
{To run on}.
(a) To be continued; as, their accounts had run on for a
year or two without a settlement.
(b) To talk incessantly.
(c) To continue a course.
(d) To press with jokes or ridicule; to abuse with
sarcasm; to bear hard on.
(e) (Print.) To be continued in the same lines, without
making a break or beginning a new paragraph.
{To run out}.
(a) To come to an end; to expire; as, the lease runs out
at Michaelmas.
(b) To extend; to spread. "Insectile animals . . . run all
out into legs." --Hammond.
(c) To expatiate; as, to run out into beautiful
digressions.
(d) To be wasted or exhausted; to become poor; to become
extinct; as, an estate managed without economy will
soon run out.
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And had her stock been less, no doubt
She must have long ago run out. --Dryden.
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{To run over}.
(a) To overflow; as, a cup runs over, or the liquor runs
over.
(b) To go over, examine, or rehearse cursorily.
(c) To ride or drive over; as, to run over a child.
{To run riot}, to go to excess.
{To run through}.
(a) To go through hastily; as to run through a book.
(b) To spend wastefully; as, to run through an estate.
{To run to seed}, to expend or exhaust vitality in producing
seed, as a plant; figuratively and colloquially, to cease
growing; to lose vital force, as the body or mind.
{To run up}, to rise; to swell; to grow; to increase; as,
accounts of goods credited run up very fast.
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But these, having been untrimmed for many years, had
run up into great bushes, or rather dwarf trees.
--Sir W.
Scott.
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{To run with}.
(a) To be drenched with, so that streams flow; as, the
streets ran with blood.
(b) To flow while charged with some foreign substance.
"Its rivers ran with gold." --J. H. Newman.
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