Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Run?

\Run\, v. t. (Golf) To strike (the ball) in such a way as to cause it to run along the ground, as when approaching a hole.
\Run\, v. i. [imp. {Ran}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["a]nna, Dan. rinde, rende, Goth. rinnan, and perh. to L. oriri to rise, Gr. ? to stir up, rouse, Skr. ? (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: 2. Of voluntary or personal action: (a) To go swiftly; to pass at a swift pace; to hasten. ``Ha, ha, the fox!'' and after him they ran. --Chaucer. (b) To flee, as from fear or danger. As from a bear a man would run for life. --Shak. (c) To steal off; to depart secretly. My conscience will serve me to run from this jew. --Shak. (d) 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. --1 Cor. ix. 24. (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. Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast, to rend my heart with grief and run distracted? --Addison. (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. Virgil, in his first Georgic, has run into a set of precepts foreign to his subject. --Addison. (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. 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. The fire ran along upon the ground. --Ex. ix. 23. (c) To become fluid; to melt; to fuse. As wax dissolves, as ice begins to run. --Addison. Sussex iron ores run freely in the fire. --Woodward. (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. She saw with joy the line immortal run, Each sire impressed, and glaring in his son. --Pope. (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. As fast as our time runs, we should be very glad in most part of our lives that it ran much faster. --Addison. (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. 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. (j) To have a course or direction; as, a line runs east and west. Where the generally allowed practice runs counter to it. --Locke. Little is the wisdom, where the flight So runs against all reason. --Shak. (k) To be in form thus, as a combination of words. The king's ordinary style runneth, ``Our sovereign lord the king.'' --Bp. Sanderson. (l) To be popularly known; to be generally received. Men gave them their own names, by which they run a great while in Rome. --Sir W. Temple. Neither was he ignorant what report ran of himself. --Knolles. (m) To have growth or development; as, boys and girls run up rapidly. If the richness of the ground cause turnips to run to leaves. --Mortimer. (n) To tend, as to an effect or consequence; to incline. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds. --Bacon. Temperate climates run into moderate governments. --Swift. (o) 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. --I. Watts. (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. 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. (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. 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). 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. {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 {into}. (a) To enter; to step in. (b) To come in collision with. {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 {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. And had her stock been less, no doubt She must have long ago run out. --Dryden. {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. But these, having been untrimmed for many years, had run up into great bushes, or rather dwarf trees. --Sir W. Scott. {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.
\Run\, v. t. 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. --South. I would gladly understand the formation of a soul, and run it up to its ``punctum saliens.'' --Collier. 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. --Sir W. Scott. Having run his fingers through his hair. --Dickens. 4. To drive or force; to cause, or permit, to be driven. They ran the ship aground. --Acts xxvii. 41. A talkative person runs himself upon great inconveniences by blabbing out his own or other's secrets. --Ray. Others, accustomed to retired speculations, run natural philosophy into metaphysical notions. --Locke. 5. To fuse; to shape; to mold; to cast; as, to run bullets, and the like. The purest gold must be run and washed. --Felton. 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. --Swift. 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. ``He runneth two dangers.'' --Bacon. 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. --Clarendon. 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 C[ae]sar fell. --Shak. 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. {To run a blockade}, to get to, or away from, a blockaded port in safety. {To run down}. (a) (Hunting) To chase till the object pursued is captured or exhausted; as, to run down a stag. (b) (Naut.) To run against and sink, as a vessel. (c) To crush; to overthrow; to overbear. ``Religion is run down by the license of these times.'' --Berkeley. (d) To disparage; to traduce. --F. W. Newman. {To run hard}. (a) To press in competition; as, to run one hard in a race. (b) To urge or press importunately. (c) To banter severely. {To run into the ground}, to carry to an absurd extreme; to overdo. [Slang, U.S.] {To run off}, to cause to flow away, as a charge of molten metal from a furnace. {To run on} (Print.), to carry on or continue, as the type for a new sentence, without making a break or commencing a new paragraph. {To run out}. (a) To thrust or push out; to extend. (b) To waste; to exhaust; as, to run out an estate. (c) (Baseball) To put out while running between two bases. {To run} {the chances, or one's chances}, to encounter all the risks of a certain course. {To run through}, to transfix; to pierce, as with a sword. ``[He] was run through the body by the man who had asked his advice.'' --Addison. {To run up}. (a) To thrust up, as anything long and slender. (b) To increase; to enlarge by additions, as an account. (c) To erect hastily, as a building.
\Run\, n. 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. --Burke. 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. --Addison. 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. --Macaulay. 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. --Howitt. 9. (Naut.) (a) The aftermost part of a vessel's hull where it narrows toward the stern, under the quarter. (b) The distance sailed by a ship; as, a good run; a run of fifty miles. (c) A voyage; as, a run to China. 10. A pleasure excursion; a trip. [Colloq.] I think of giving her a run in London. --Dickens. 11. (Mining) 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. 12. (Mus.) A roulade, or series of running tones. 13. (Mil.) The greatest degree of swiftness in marching. It is executed upon the same principles as the double-quick, but with greater speed. 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; 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 ``runs'' are made from wicket to wicket, the batsmen interchanging ends at each run. --R. A. Proctor. 16. A pair or set of millstones. {At the long run}, now, commonly, {In the long run}, in or during the whole process or course of things taken together; in the final result; in the end; finally. [Man] starts the inferior of the brute animals, but he surpasses them in the long run. --J. H. Newman. {Home run}. (a) A running or returning toward home, or to the point from which the start was made. Cf. {Home stretch}. (b) (Baseball) See under {Home}. {The run}, or {The common run}, etc., ordinary persons; the generality or average of people or things; also, that which ordinarily occurs; ordinary current, course, or kind. I saw nothing else that is superior to the common run of parks. --Walpole. 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. --Prof. Wilson. His whole appearance was something out of the common run. --W. Irving. {To let go by the run} (Naut.), to loosen and let run freely, as lines; to let fall without restraint, as a sail.
\Run\, a. 1. Melted, or made from molten material; cast in a mold; as, run butter; run iron or lead. 2. Smuggled; as, run goods. [Colloq.] --Miss Edgeworth. {Run steel}, malleable iron castings. See under {Malleable}. --Raymond.