Definition of "run"

To move swiftly.

1. (intransitive) To move forward quickly upon two feet by alternately making a short jump off either foot. (Compare walk.)  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him.

     1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, page 122

2. (intransitive) To go at a fast pace; to move quickly.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Once I ran to you (I ran) / Now I run from you / This tainted love you've given / I give you all a boy could give you

     1965, Ed Cobb, “Tainted Love”, in Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret‎, performed by Soft Cell, published 1981

3. (transitive) To cause to move quickly or lightly.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton

4. (transitive or intransitive) To compete in a race.  examples

5. (transitive) To transport someone or something, notionally at a brisk pace.  examples

6. (transitive, intransitive) Of a means of transportation: to travel (a route).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, […]

     1997, Karl-Heinz Reger, Nelles Verlag Staff, Malaysia - Singapore - Brunei, Hunter Publishing, Inc, page 91

   • 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. The Bella Israel, a successor to the Little Minnie, sank in 1894 and 62 Along the […]

     2013 April 15, Mary Ann Sternberg, Along the River Road: Past and Present on Louisiana's Historic Byway, LSU Press, page 62

7. (transitive) To transit a length of a river, as in whitewater rafting.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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 […]

     1979, United States. Forest Service. Rocky Mountain Region, Piedra River: Final Environmental Impact Statement & Wild & Scenic River Study, page 74

8. (intransitive) Of fish, to migrate for spawning.  examples

9. (American football, transitive or intransitive) To carry (a football) down the field, as opposed to passing or kicking.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     2019 December 29, Chad Finn, “24 thoughts on the Patriots’ loss to the Dolphins”, in Boston Globe‎

10. (transitive) To achieve or perform by running or as if by running.  examples

11. (intransitive) To flee from a danger or towards help.  examples

12. (figurative, transitive) To pass (without stopping), typically a stop signal, stop sign, or duty to yield the right of way.  examples

13. (transitive, juggling, colloquial) To juggle a pattern continuously, as opposed to starting and stopping quickly.  examples

(fluids) To flow.

1. (intransitive) Of a liquid, to flow.  examples

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To move or spread quickly.  examples

3. (intransitive) Of an object, to have a liquid flowing from it.  examples

4. (transitive) To make a liquid flow; to make liquid flow from or into an object.  examples

5. (intransitive) To become liquid; to melt.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • As Wax dissolves, as Ice begins to run,

     1717 [a. 18 CE], Ovid, translated by Joseph Addison, Ovid's Metamorphoses in fifteen books. Translated by the most eminent hands. Adorn'd with sculptures‎, Book the Third, The Story of Narcissus, page 92

   • The Sussex ores run pretty freely in the Fire for Iron-Ores; otherwise they would hardly be worth working.

     1729, John Woodward, An Attempt Towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England, Tome I, page 223

6. (intransitive) To leak or spread in an undesirable fashion; to bleed (especially used of dye or paint).  examples

7. To fuse; to shape; to mould; to cast.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1718, Henry Felton, A Dissertation on Reading the Classics, and Forming a Just Style‎, page 6

(nautical, of a vessel) To sail before the wind, in distinction from reaching or sailing close-hauled.  examples

(transitive) To control or manage; to be in charge of.  quotations  examples

(intransitive) To be a candidate in an election.  examples

To make participate in certain kinds of competitions.

1. (transitive) To make run in a race.  examples

2. (transitive) To make run in an election.  examples

To exert continuous activity; to proceed.  examples

(intransitive) To be presented in the media.  examples

(transitive) To print or broadcast in the media.  examples

(transitive) To smuggle (illegal goods).  quotations  examples

(transitive, agriculture) To sort through a large volume of produce in quality control.  examples

To extend or persist, statically or dynamically, through space or time.

1. (intransitive) To extend in space or through a range (often with a measure phrase).  examples

2. (intransitive) To extend in time, to last, to continue (usually with a measure phrase).  examples

3. (transitive) To make something extend in space.  examples

4. (intransitive) Of a machine, including computer programs, to be operating or working normally.  examples

5. (transitive) To make a machine operate.  examples

(transitive) To execute or carry out a plan, procedure, or program.  examples

To pass or go quickly in thought or conversation.  quotations  examples

(copulative) To become different in a way mentioned (usually to become worse).  quotations  examples

(transitive) To cost a large amount of money.  examples

(intransitive) Of stitches or stitched clothing, to unravel.  examples

(transitive) To cause stitched clothing to unravel.  quotations  examples

To pursue in thought; to carry in contemplation.  quotations  examples

To cause to enter; to thrust.  quotations  examples

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

To cause to be drawn; to mark out; to indicate; to determine.  examples

To encounter or incur (a danger or risk).  quotations  examples

To put at hazard; to venture; to risk.  quotations  examples

To tease with sarcasms and ridicule.  examples

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.  examples

To control or have precedence in a card game.  examples

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

(archaic) To be popularly known; to be generally received.  quotations

To have growth or development.  quotations  examples

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

To have a legal course; to be attached; to continue in force, effect, or operation; to follow; to go in company.  quotations  examples

To encounter or suffer (a particular, usually bad, fate or misfortune).  quotations  examples

(golf) To strike (the ball) in such a way as to cause it to run along the ground, as when approaching a hole.  examples

(video games, rare) To speedrun.

(sports, especially baseball) To eject from a game or match.  examples

Act or instance of running, of moving rapidly using the feet.  quotations  examples

Act or instance of hurrying (to or from a place) (not necessarily on foot); dash or errand, trip.  quotations  examples

A pleasure trip.  quotations  examples

Flight, instance or period of fleeing.  quotations  examples

Migration (of fish).  examples

A group of fish that migrate, or ascend a river for the purpose of spawning.  examples

A literal or figurative path or course for movement relating to:

1. A (regular) trip or route.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon? It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.

     1977, Star Wars (film)

2. The route taken while running or skiing.  examples

3. (skiing, bobsledding) A single trip down a hill, as in skiing and bobsledding.  examples

4. The distance sailed by a ship.  examples

5. A voyage.  examples

6. A trial.  examples

7. (mathematics, computing) The execution of a program or model  examples

8. (video games) A playthrough, or attempted playthrough; a session of play.  examples

Unrestricted use. Only used in have the run of.  examples

An enclosure for an animal; a track or path along which something can travel.  examples

(Australia, New Zealand) A rural landholding for farming, usually for running sheep, and operated by a runholder.  examples

State of being current; currency; popularity.  quotations  examples

Continuous or sequential

1. A continuous period (of time) marked by a trend; a period marked by a continuing trend.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • “ […] had had the preceding night an uncommon run of luck”.

     1782 Frances Burney Cecilia

2. A series of tries in a game that were successful.  examples

3. A production quantity (such as in a factory).  examples

4. The period of showing of a play, film, TV series, etc.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • A canting, mawkish play [...] had an immense run.

     1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith ”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871

5. (slang) A period of extended (usually daily) drug use.  quotations

   Quotations

   • And I'll tell ya, things aren't quite the same / When I'm rushing on my run.

     1964, The Velvet Underground, Heroin

   • Frank Fixwell, a 25 year-old male, has been on a heroin "run" (daily use) for the past two years.

     1975, Lloyd Y. Young, Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, Brian S. Katcher, Applied Therapeutics for Clinical Pharmacists

   • 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.

     1977, Richard P. Rettig, Manual J. Torres, Gerald R. Garrett, Manny: a criminal-addict's story, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

   • This can develop quite quickly (over a matter of hours) during a cocaine run or when cocaine use becomes a daily habit.

     2001, Robin J. Harman, Handbook of Pharmacy Health Education, Pharmaceutical Press, page 172

   • DA depletion leads to the crash that characteristically ends a cocaine run.

     2010, Robert DuPont, The Selfish Brain: Learning from Addiction, Hazelden Publishing, page 158

6. (card games) A sequence of cards in a suit in a card game.  examples

7. (music) A rapid passage in music, especially along a scale.  examples

A flow of liquid; a leak.  examples

(chiefly eastern Midland US, especially Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia) A small creek or part thereof. (Compare Southern US branch and New York and New England brook.)  examples

A quick pace, faster than a walk.

1. (of horses) A fast gallop.  examples

(banking) A sudden series of demands on a bank or other financial institution, especially characterised by great withdrawals.  examples

Any sudden large demand for something.  examples

Various horizontal dimensions or surfaces

1. The top of a step on a staircase, also called a tread, as opposed to the rise.  examples

2. The horizontal length of a set of stairs  examples

3. (construction) Horizontal dimension of a slope.  examples

A standard or unexceptional group or category.  examples

In sports

1. (baseball) A score when a runner touches all bases legally; the act of a runner scoring.  examples

2. (cricket) The act of passing from one wicket to another; the point scored for this.  examples

3. (American football) A running play.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Aaron Roberts added an insurance touchdown on a one-yard run.

     2003, Jack Seibold, Spartan Sports Encyclopedia, page 592

4. (golf) The movement communicated to a golf ball by running it.  examples

5. (golf) The distance a ball travels after touching the ground from a stroke.  examples

6. The distance drilled with a bit, in oil drilling.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1832, Records and Briefs of the United States Supreme Court, page 21

A line of knit stitches that have unravelled, particularly in a nylon stocking.  quotations  examples

(nautical) The stern of the underwater body of a ship from where it begins to curve upward and inward.  examples

(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.  examples

A pair or set of millstones.  examples

(speedrunning) Shortening of speedrun.  examples

In a liquid state; melted or molten.  quotations  examples

Cast in a mould.  quotations  examples

Exhausted; depleted (especially with "down" or "out").  examples

(of a zoology) Travelled, migrated; having made a migration or a spawning run.  quotations

Smuggled.  examples

past participle of rin  examples