run-around

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Run-around \Run"-a*round`\, n. (Med.)
   A whitlow running around the finger nail, but not affecting
   the bone. [Colloq.]
   [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Runaround \Run"a*round`\, n.
   a delaying or evasive, and sometimes deceptive, answer to an
   inquiry or request.
   [PJC]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

43 Moby Thesaurus words for "runaround":
      avoidance, avoiding reaction, buck-passing, circumvention,
      defense mechanism, dodge, duck, elusion, elusiveness, equivocation,
      escape, eschewal, evasion, evasive action, evasiveness, foiling,
      forbearance, forestalling, forestallment, frustration,
      getting around, getting round, jink, neutrality, nonintervention,
      noninvolvement, outguessing, outmaneuvering, outwitting,
      passing the buck, prevention, refraining, roundabout, shunning,
      shunting off, shy, sidestep, sidetracking, slip, the runaround,
      the slip, thwarting, zigzag