Run /(rŭn)/

imp. Ran; p. p. Run; p. pr. & vb. n. Running

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.
2. To go swiftly; to pass at a swift pace; to hasten.

   “Ha, ha, the fox!” and after him they ran.

3. To flee, as from fear or danger.

   As from a bear a man would run for life.

4. To steal off; to depart secretly.
5. To contend in a race; hence, to enter into a contest; to become a candidate; as, to run for Congress.

   Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

6. 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.

   Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast, to rend my heart with grief and run distracted?

7. To exert continuous activity; to proceed; as, to run through life; to run in a circle.

   Virgil, in his first Georgic, has run into a set of precepts foreign to his subject.

8. To discuss; to continue to think or speak about something; -- with on.
9. 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.

   The fire ran along upon the ground.

10. To become fluid; to melt; to fuse.

    As wax dissolves, as ice begins to run.

    Sussex iron ores run freely in the fire.

11. To turn, as a wheel; to revolve on an axis or pivot; as, a wheel runs swiftly round.

    She saw with joy the line immortal run, Each sire impressed, and glaring in his son.

12. To go back and forth from place to place; to ply; as, the stage runs between the hotel and the station.

    As fast as our time runs, we should be very glad in most part of our lives that it ran much faster.

13. 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.

    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.

14. To have a course or direction; as, a line runs east and west.

    Where the generally allowed practice runs counter to it.

    Little is the wisdom, where the flight So runs against all reason.

15. To be in form thus, as a combination of words.

    The king's ordinary style runneth, “Our sovereign lord the king.”

16. To be popularly known; to be generally received.

    Men gave them their own names, by which they run a great while in Rome.

    Neither was he ignorant what report ran of himself.

17. To have growth or development; as, boys and girls run up rapidly.

    If the richness of the ground cause turnips to run to leaves.

18. To tend, as to an effect or consequence; to incline.

    A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds.

    Temperate climates run into moderate governments.

19. To spread and blend together; to unite; as, colors run in washing.

    In the middle of a rainbow the colors are . . . distinguished, but near the borders they run into one another.

20. 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.

    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.

21. To continue without falling due; to hold good; as, a note has thirty days to run. (Naut.)
22. 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.
23. 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. (Athletics)

    And had her stock been less, no doubt She must have long ago run out.

    But these, having been untrimmed for many years, had run up into great bushes, or rather dwarf trees.

1. To cause to run (in the various senses of Run, v. i.); as, to run a horse; to run a stage; to run a machine; to run a rope through a block.
2. To pursue in thought; to carry in contemplation.

   To run the world back to its first original.

   I would gladly understand the formation of a soul, and run it up to its “punctum saliens.”

3. To cause to enter; to thrust; as, to run a sword into or through the body; to run a nail into the foot.

   You run your head into the lion's mouth.

   Having run his fingers through his hair.

4. To drive or force; to cause, or permit, to be driven.

   They ran the ship aground.

   A talkative person runs himself upon great inconveniences by blabbing out his own or other's secrets.

   Others, accustomed to retired speculations, run natural philosophy into metaphysical notions.

5. To fuse; to shape; to mold; to cast; as, to run bullets, and the like.

   The purest gold must be run and washed.

6. To cause to be drawn; to mark out; to indicate; to determine; as, to run a line.
7. To cause to pass, or evade, offical restrictions; to smuggle; -- said of contraband or dutiable goods.

   Heavy impositions . . . are a strong temptation of running goods.

8. To go through or accomplish by running; as, to run a race; to run a certain career.
9. To cause to stand as a candidate for office; to support for office; as, to run some one for Congress. [Colloq. U.S.]
10. To encounter or incur, as a danger or risk; as, to run the risk of losing one's life. See To run the chances, below.
11. To put at hazard; to venture; to risk.

    He would himself be in the Highlands to receive them, and run his fortune with them.

12. To discharge; to emit; to give forth copiously; to be bathed with; as, the pipe or faucet runs hot water.

    At the base of Pompey's statua, Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.

13. To be charged with, or to contain much of, while flowing; as, the rivers ran blood.
14. To conduct; to manage; to carry on; as, to run a factory or a hotel. [Colloq. U.S.]
15. To tease with sarcasms and ridicule. [Colloq.]
16. To sew, as 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.
17. To migrate or move in schools; -- said of fish; esp., to ascend a river in order to spawn.
18. To strike (the ball) in such a way as to cause it to run along the ground, as when approaching a hole. (Golf)

1. The act of running; as, a long run; a good run; a quick run; to go on the run.
2. A small stream; a brook; a creek.
3. That which runs or flows in the course of a certain operation, or during a certain time; as, a run of must in wine making; the first run of sap in a maple orchard.
4. A course; a series; that which continues in a certain course or series; as, a run of good or bad luck.

   They who made their arrangements in the first run of misadventure . . . put a seal on their calamities.

5. State of being current; currency; popularity.

   It is impossible for detached papers to have a general run, or long continuance, if not diversified with humor.

6. Continued repetition on the stage; -- said of a play; as, to have a run of a hundred successive nights.

   A canting, mawkish play . . . had an immense run.

7. A continuing urgent demand; especially, a pressure on a bank or treasury for payment of its notes.
8. A range or extent of ground for feeding stock; as, a sheep run.
9. The aftermost part of a vessel's hull where it narrows toward the stern, under the quarter. (Naut.)
10. A pleasure excursion; a trip. [Colloq.]

    I think of giving her a run in London.

11. The horizontal distance to which a drift may be carried, either by license 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. (Mining)
12. A roulade, or series of running tones. (Mus.)
13. The greatest degree of swiftness in marching. It is executed upon the same principles as the double-quick, but with greater speed. (Mil.)
14. The act of migrating, or ascending a river to spawn; -- said of fish; also, an assemblage or school of fishes which migrate, or ascend a river for the purpose of spawning.
15. In baseball, a complete circuit of the bases made by a player, which enables him to score one point; also, the point thus scored; in cricket, a passing from one wicket to the other, by which one point is scored; as, a player made three runs; the side went out with two hundred runs; the Yankees scored three runs in the seventh inning. (Sport)

    The “runs” are made from wicket to wicket, the batsmen interchanging ends at each run.

16. A pair or set of millstones.
17. A number of cards of the same suit in sequence; as, a run of four in hearts. (Piquet, Cribbage, etc.)
18. The movement communicated to a golf ball by running. (Golf)

    [Man] starts the inferior of the brute animals, but he surpasses them in the long run.

    I saw nothing else that is superior to the common run of parks.

    Burns never dreamed of looking down on others as beneath him, merely because he was conscious of his own vast superiority to the common run of men.

    His whole appearance was something out of the common run.

1. Melted, or made from molten material; cast in a mold; as, run butter; run iron or lead.
2. Smuggled; as, run goods. [Colloq.]