Etimology
From Middle English runnen, rennen (“to run”), alteration (due to the past participle runne, runnen, yronne) of Middle English rinnen (“to run”), from Old English rinnan, iernan (“to run”) and Old Norse rinna (“to run”), both from Proto-Germanic *rinnaną (“to run”) (compare also *rannijaną (“to make run”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reyH- (“to boil, churn”). Cognate with Scots rin (“to run”), West Frisian rinne (“to walk, march”), Dutch rennen (“to run, race”), Alemannic German ränne (“to run”), German rennen (“to run, race”), rinnen (“to flow”), Rhein, Danish rende (“to run”), Swedish ränna (“to run”), Swedish rinna (“to flow”), Icelandic renna (“to flow”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian rend (“to run, run after”). See random.
verb
run (third-person singular simple present runs, present participle running, simple past ran, past participle run)
To move swiftly.
(fluids) To flow.
(nautical, of a vessel) To sail before the wind, in distinction from reaching or sailing close-hauled.
(transitive) To control or manage; to be in charge of.
(intransitive) To be a candidate in an election.
To make participate in certain kinds of competitions.
To exert continuous activity; to proceed.
(intransitive) To be presented in the media.
(transitive) To print or broadcast in the media.
(transitive) To smuggle (illegal goods).
(transitive, agriculture) To sort through a large volume of produce in quality control.
To extend or persist, statically or dynamically, through space or time.
(transitive) To execute or carry out a plan, procedure, or program.
To pass or go quickly in thought or conversation.
(copulative) To become different in a way mentioned (usually to become worse).
(transitive) To cost a large amount of money.
(intransitive) Of stitches or stitched clothing, to unravel.
(transitive) To cause stitched clothing to unravel.
To pursue in thought; to carry in contemplation.
To cause to enter; to thrust.
To drive or force; to cause, or permit, to be driven.
To cause to be drawn; to mark out; to indicate; to determine.
To encounter or incur (a danger or risk).
To put at hazard; to venture; to risk.
To tease with sarcasms and ridicule.
To sew (a seam) by passing the needle through material in a continuous line, generally taking a series of stitches on the needle at the same time.
To control or have precedence in a card game.
To be in form thus, as a combination of words.
(archaic) To be popularly known; to be generally received.
To have growth or development.
To tend, as to an effect or consequence; to incline.
To have a legal course; to be attached; to continue in force, effect, or operation; to follow; to go in company.
To encounter or suffer (a particular, usually bad, fate or misfortune).
(golf) To strike (the ball) in such a way as to cause it to run along the ground, as when approaching a hole.
(video games, rare) To speedrun.
(sports, especially baseball) To eject from a game or match.
Examples
Run, Sarah, run!
Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him.
I have been running all over the building looking for him.
Sorry, I've got to run; my house is on fire.
Once I ran to you / Now I run from you / This tainted love you've given / I give you all a boy could give you
Every day I run my dog across the field and back.
I'll just run the vacuum cleaner over the carpet.
Run your fingers through my hair.
Challenger and I ran Summerlee along, one at each of his elbows, while Lord John covered our retreat, firing again and again as savage heads snarled at us out of the bushes.
The horse will run in the Preakness next year.
I'm not ready to run a marathon.
Could you run me over to the store?
Please run this report upstairs to director's office.
the bus runs between Newport and Riverside
Small planes run between Alor and Langkawi. BUS: Express busses leave the bus terminal on the corner of Jl. Langgar and Jl. Stesyen for K. Kedah, […]
The first steam ferry or tug, the Little Minnie, ran the river in the 1870s. When vehicles were to cross, a barge was affixed to the Minnie to carry them.
To put it frankly, if you people had to hire others to run the river and survey it for you, if, in short, you can't even run it yourself, why do think you can decide who is and who is not competent? River running, as has been […]
Then, on their second possession, Isaiah Ford ran for 11 yards after abandoning a flea flicker. [...] The Patriots ran the ball just 27 times despite averaging 5 yards per carry.
The horse ran a great race.
Whenever things get tough, she cuts and runs.
When he's broke, he runs to me for money.
If you have a collision with a vehicle oncoming from the right, after having run priority to the right, you are at fault.
The river runs through the forest.
There's blood running down your leg.
There's a strange story running around the neighborhood.
The flu is running through my daughter's kindergarten.
Your nose is running.
Why is the hose still running?
You'll have to run the water a while before it gets hot.
Could you run a bath for me, please?
As Wax dissolves, as Ice begins to run,
The Sussex ores run pretty freely in the Fire for Iron-Ores; otherwise they would hardly be worth working.
During washing, the red from the rug ran onto the white sheet, staining it pink.
to run bullets
But, my Lord, the fairest Diamonds are rough till they are polished, and the purest Gold must be run and washed, and sifted in the Oar.
My uncle ran a corner store for forty years.
She runs the fundraising.
My parents think they run my life.
He is running the candidate's expensive campaign.
A friend of mine who runs an intellectual magazine was grousing about his movie critic, complaining that though the fellow had liked The Godfather , he had neglected to label it clearly as a masterpiece.
India is run by gerontocrats and epigones: grey hairs and groomed heirs.
I have decided to run for governor of California.
We're trying to find somebody to run against him next year.
He ran his best horse in the Derby.
The Green Party is running twenty candidates in this election.
to run through life; to run in a circle
The story will run on the 6-o'clock news.
The latest Robin Williams movie is running at the Silver City theatre.
Her picture ran on the front page of the newspaper.
run a story; run an ad
to run guns; to run rum
[...]whereas in the business of laying heavy impositions two and two never made more than one ; which happens by lessening the import, and the strong temptation of running such goods as paid high duties
Looks like we're gonna have to run the tomatoes again.
The border runs for 3000 miles.
The leash runs along a wire.
The grain of the wood runs to the right on this table.
It ran in quality from excellent to substandard.
The sale will run for ten days.
The contract runs through 2008.
The meeting ran late.
The book runs 655 pages.
The speech runs as follows: …
I need to run this wire along the wall.
My car stopped running.
That computer runs twenty-four hours a day.
Buses don't run here on Sunday.
It's full. You can run the dishwasher now.
Don't run the engine so fast.
They ran twenty blood tests on me and they still don't know what's wrong.
Our coach had us running plays for the whole practice.
I will run the sample.
Don't run that software unless you have permission.
My computer is too old to run the new OS.
to run from one subject to another
Virgil was so well acquainted with this Secret, that to set off his first Georgic, he has run into a set of Precepts, which are almost foreign to his Subject,
Our supplies are running low.
They frequently overspent and soon ran into debt.
Have I not cause to rave, and beat my breast, / To rend my heart with grief and run distracted?
I was no more than a boy / In the company of strangers / In the quiet of the railway station / Running scared.
Buying a new laptop will run you a thousand dollars.
Laptops run about a thousand dollars apiece.
My stocking is running.
He took off the nylons & had runned one. He said "now I really look like a street whore!"
To run the world back to its first original and infancy, and, as it were, to view nature in its cradle,
Methinks, if it might be, I would gladly understand the Formation of a Soul, run it up to its Punctum Saliens, and see it beat the first conscious Pulse.
to run a sword into or through the body; to run a nail into one's foot
“You run your head into the lion's mouth,” answered Mac-Ivor.
With that he took off his great-coat, and having run his fingers through his hair, thrust one hand gently in the bosom of his waistcoat
There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs; […].
They ran the ship aground.
[...]besides all this, a talkative person must needs be impertinent, and speak many idle words, and so render himself burdensome and odious to Company, and may perchance run himself upon great Inconveniences, by blabbing out his own or other’s Secrets;
[...]and others, accustomed to retired speculations, run natural philosophy into metaphysical notions and the abstract generalities of logic ;
to run a line
to run the risk of losing one's life
He runneth two dangers.
He would himself be in the Highlands to receive them, and run his fortune with them.
Every three or four hands he would run the table.
Which Sovereignty, with us, ſo undoubtedly reſideth in the Perſon of the King, that his ordinary Style runneth — Our Sovereign Lord the King: […]
The departure was not unduly prolonged. In the road Mr. Love and the driver favoured the company with a brief chanty running: “Got it?—No, I ain't, 'old on,—Got it? Got it?—No, 'old on sir.”
[...]great captains, and even consular men, who first brought them over, took pride in giving them their own names
Neither was he ignorant what report ran of himselfe.
Boys and girls run up rapidly.
or the Richness of the Ground cause them [turnips] to run too much to Leaves
A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds.
It hath been observed, that the temperate climates usually run into moderate governments, and the extremes into despotic power.
Certain covenants run with the land.
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.
Don't let me run the fate of all who show indulgence to your sex […].
Jackson got himself run in the top of the sixth for arguing a borderline strike three call.
noun
run (plural runs)
Act or instance of running, of moving rapidly using the feet.
Act or instance of hurrying (to or from a place) (not necessarily on foot); dash or errand, trip.
A pleasure trip.
Flight, instance or period of fleeing.
Migration (of fish).
A group of fish that migrate, or ascend a river for the purpose of spawning.
A literal or figurative path or course for movement relating to:
Unrestricted use. Only used in have the run of.
An enclosure for an animal; a track or path along which something can travel.
(Australia, New Zealand) A rural landholding for farming, usually for running sheep, and operated by a runholder.
State of being current; currency; popularity.
Continuous or sequential
A flow of liquid; a leak.
(chiefly eastern North Midland US, especially Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia) A small creek or part thereof. (Compare Southern US branch and New York and New England brook.)
A quick pace, faster than a walk.
(banking) A sudden series of demands on a bank or other financial institution, especially characterised by great withdrawals.
Any sudden large demand for something.
Various horizontal dimensions or surfaces
A standard or unexceptional group or category.
In sports
A line of knit stitches that have unravelled, particularly in a nylon stocking.
(nautical) The stern of the underwater body of a ship from where it begins to curve upward and inward.
(mining) The horizontal distance to which a drift may be carried, either by licence of the proprietor of a mine or by the nature of the formation; also, the direction which a vein of ore or other substance takes.
A pair or set of millstones.
Examples
I just got back from my morning run.
Krohn-Dehli took advantage of a lucky bounce of the ball after a battling run on the left flank by Simon Poulsen, dummied two defenders and shot low through goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg's legs after 24 minutes.
[…] and on the 18th of January this squadron put to sea. The first place of rendezvous was the boy of port St. Julian, upon the coast of Patagonia, and all accidents were provided against with admirable foresight. Their run to port St. Julian was dangerous […]
Jackson said the white firefighters attempted to make him and other Black firefighters miss runs by not waking them up along with everyone else.
I need to make a run to the store.
Let's go for a run in the car.
And I think of giving her a run in London for a change.
During his run from the police, he claimed to have a metaphysical experience which can only be described as “having passed through an abyss.”
The bus on the Cherry Street run is always crowded.
You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon? It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.
Which run did you do today?
a good run; a run of fifty miles
a run to China
The data got lost, so I'll have to perform another run of the experiment.
This morning's run of the SHIPS statistical model gave Hurricane Priscilla a 74% chance of gaining at least 30 knots of intensity in 24 hours, reconfirmed by the HMON and GFS dynamical models.
This was my first successful run without losing any health.
That NPC bugged out and killed my run.
He can have the run of the house.
He set up a rabbit run.
It is impossible for detached papers[...] to have a general run, or long continuance, if they are not diversified[...].
I’m having a run of bad luck.
“ […] had had the preceding night an uncommon run of luck”.
He went to Las Vegas and spent all his money over a three-day run.
They who made their arrangements in the first run of misadventure [...] put a seal on their calamities.
German wildcard Sabine Lisicki conquered her nerves to defeat France's Marion Bartoli and take her amazing Wimbledon run into the semi-finals.
If our team can keep up their strong defense, expect them to make a run in this tournament.
Yesterday we did a run of 12,000 units.
The book’s initial press run will be 5,000 copies.
The run of the show lasted two weeks, and we sold out every night.
It is the last week of our French cinema run.
A canting, mawkish play [...] had an immense run.
And I'll tell ya, things aren't quite the same / When I'm rushing on my run.
Frank Fixwell, a 25 year-old male, has been on a heroin "run" for the past two years.
I was hooked on dope, and hooked bad, during this whole period, but I was also hooked behind robbery. When you're on a heroin run, you stay loaded so long as you can score.
This can develop quite quickly during a cocaine run or when cocaine use becomes a daily habit.
DA depletion leads to the crash that characteristically ends a cocaine run.
The constant run of water from the faucet annoys me.
a run of must in wine-making
the first run of sap in a maple orchard
The military campaign near that creek was known as "The battle of Bull Run".
He broke into a run.
Financial insecurity led to a run on the banks, as customers feared for the security of their savings.
There was a run on Christmas presents.
He stood out from the usual run of applicants.
[...] one of the greatest runs of all time.
Aaron Roberts added an insurance touchdown on a one-yard run.
Well, when you compare the cone type with the cross roller bit, you get a longer run, there is less tendency of the bit to go flat while running in various formations. It cleans itself better.
I have a run in my stocking.
A camera pans the cocktail hour / Behind a blind of potted palms / And finds a lady in a Paris dress / With runs in her nylons
Related words
synonyms
(horizontal part of a step): tread
(unravelling): ladder (British)
(computing): execute, start
See also Thesaurus:walk
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "horizontal part of a step"): rise, riser
(antonym(s) of "horizontal distance of a set of stairs"): rise
adjective
run (not comparable)
In a liquid state; melted or molten.
Cast in a mould.
Exhausted; depleted (especially with "down" or "out").
(of a zoology) Travelled, migrated; having made a migration or a spawning run.
Smuggled.
Examples
Put some run butter on the vegetables.
Samples of the regular run butter were sealed in 1 pound tins and sent to Washington, where the butter was scored and examined.
[...] the Sides are generally made of Holland's Tiles, or Plates of run Iron, ornamented variously as Fancy dictates, [...]
Vast quantities are cast in sand moulds, with that kind of run steel which is so largely used in the production of common table-knives and forks.
For making tea I have a kettle,
Besides a pan made of run metal;
An old arm-chair, in which I sit well —
The back is round.
The temperature of the water is consequently much higher than in either England or Scotland, and many newly run salmon will be found in early spring in the upper waters of Irish rivers where obstructions exist.
It may be very much a metallic appearance as opposed to the silver freshness of a recently run salmon.
Thus, on almost any day of the year, a fresh-run salmon may be caught legally somewhere in the British Isles.
run brandy
verb
run
past participle of rin