RUN, v.i. pret. ran or run; pp. run.

1. The act of running.
2. Course; motion; as, the run of humor. Bacon.
3. Flow; as, a run of verses to please the ear. Broome.
4. Course; process; continued series; as, the run of events.
5. Way; will; uncontrolled course. Our family gross have their run. Arbuthnot.
6. General reception; continued success. It is impossible for detached papers to have a general run or long continuance, if not diversified with humor. Addison.
7. Modish or popular clamor; as, a violent run against university education. Swift.
8. A general or uncommon pressure on a bank or treasury; for payment of its notes.
9. The aftmost part of a ship's bottom. Mar. Dict.
10. The distance sailed by a ship; as, we had a good run.
11. A voyage; also, an agreement among sailors to work a passage from one place to another. Mar. Dict.
12. A pair of mill-stones. A mill has two, four or six runs of stones.
13. Prevalence; as, a disease, opinion or fashion has its run.
14. In the middle and southern states of America, a small stream; a brook. In the long run, [at the long run, not so generally used,] signifies the whole process or course of things taken together; in the final result; in the conclusion or end. The run of mankind, the generality of people.

1. To move or pass in almost any manner, as on the feet or on wheels. Men and other animals run on their feet; carriages run on wheels, and wheels run on their axletrees.
2. To move or pass on the feet with celerity or rapidity, by leaps or long quick steps; as, men and quadrupeds run when in haste.
3. To use the legs in moving; to step; as, children run alone or run about. Locke.
4. To move in a hurry. The priest and people run about. D. Jonson.
5. To proceed along the surface; to extend; to spread; as, the fire runs over a field or forest. The fire ran along upon the ground. Exod. ix.
6. To rush with violence; as, a ship runs against a rock; or one ship runs against another.
7. To move or pass on the water; to sail; as, ships run regularly between New York and Liverpool. Before a storm, run into a harbor, or under the lee of the land. The ship has run ten knots an hour.
8. To contend in a race; as, men or horses run for a prize.
9. To flee for escape. When General Wolfe was dying, an officer standing by him exclaimed, See how they run. Who run? said the dying hero. The enemy, said the officer. Then I die happy, said the general.
10. To depart privately; to steal away. My conscience will serve me to run from this Jew, my master. Shak.
11. To flow in any manner, slowly or rapidly; to move or pass; as a fluid. Rivers run to the ocean or to lakes. The Connecticut runs on sand, and its water is remarkably pure. The tide runs two or three miles an hour. Tears run down the cheeks.
12. To emit; to let flow. I command that the conduit run nothing but claret. Shak. Rivers run potable gold. Milton. But this form of expression is elliptical, with being omitted; “rivers run with potable gold.”
13. To be liquid or fluid. As wax dissolves, as ice begins to run. Addison.
14. To be fusible; to melt. Sussex iron ores run freely in the fire. Woodward.
15. To fuse; to melt. Your iron must not burn in the fire, that is, run or melt, for then it will be brittle. Moxon.
16. To turn; as, a wheel runs on an axis or on a pivot.
17. To pass; to proceed; as, to run through a course of business; to run through life; to run in a circle or a line; to run through all degrees of promotion.
18. To flow, as words, language or periods. The lines run smoothly.
19. To pass, as time. As fast as our time runs, we should be glad in most part of our lives that it ran much faster. Addison.
20. To have a legal course; to be attached to; to have legal effect. 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. Childs.
21. To have a course or direction. Where the generally allowed practice runs counter to it. Locke. Little is the wisdom, where the flight / So runs against all reason. Shak.
22. To pass in thought, speech or practice; as, to run through a series of arguments; to run from one topic to another. Virgil in his first Georgic, has run into a set of precepts foreign to his subject. Addison.
23. To be mentioned cursorily or in few words. The whole runs on short, like articles in an account. Arbuthnot.
24. To have a continued tenor or course. The conversation ran on the affairs of the Greeks. The king's ordinary style runneth, “our sovereign lord the king.” Sanderson.
25. To be in motion; to speak incessantly. Her tongue runs continually.
26. To be busied. When we desire any thing, our minds run wholly on the good circumstances of it; when it is obtained, our minds run wholly on the bad ones. Swift.
27. To be popularly known. Men gave them their own names, by which they run a great while in Rome. Temple.
28. To be received; to have reception, success or continuance. The pamphlet runs well among a certain class of people.
29. To proceed in succession. She saw with joy the line immortal run / Each sire impress'd and glaring in his son. Pope.
30. To pass from one state or condition to another; as, to run into confusion or error; to run distracted. Addison.
31. To proceed in a train of conduct. You should run a certain course. Shak.
32. To be in force. The owner bath incurred the forfeiture of eight years profits of his lands, before he cometh to the knowledge of the process that runneth against him. Bacon.
33. To be generally received. He was not ignorant what report run of himself. Knolles.
34. To be carried; to extend; to rise; as, debates run high. In popish countries, the power of the clergy runs higher. Ayliffe.
35. To have a track or course. Searching the nicer with my probe, the sinus run up above the orifice. Wiseman.
36. To extend; to lie in continued length. Veins of silver run in different directions.
37. To have a certain direction. The line runs east and west.
38. To pass in an orbit of any figure. The planets run their periodical courses. The comets do not run lawless through the regions of space.
39. To tend in growth or progress. Pride is apt to run into a contempt of others.
40. To grow exuberantly. Young persons of 10 or 12 years old, soon run up to men and women. If the richness of the ground cause turneps to run to leaves, treading down the leaves will help their rooting. Mortimer.
41. To discharge pus or other matter; as, an ulcer runs.
42. To reach; to extend to the remembrance of; as, time out of mind, the memory of which runneth not to the contrary.
43. To continue in time, before it becomes due and payable; as, a note runs thirty days; a note of six months has ninety days to run.
44. To continue in effect, force or operation. The statute may be prevented from running — by the act of the creditor. Hopkinson. Wheaton's Rep.
45. To press with numerous demands of payment; as, to run upon a bank.
46. To pass or fall into fault, vice or misfortune; as, to run into vice; to run into evil practices; to run into debt; to run into mistakes.
47. To fall or pass by gradual changes; to make a transition; as, colors run one into another.
48. To have a general tendency. Temperate climates run into moderate governments. Swift.
49. To proceed as on a ground or principle. [Obs.]
50. To pass or proceed in conduct or management. Tarquin, running into all the methods of tyranny, after a cruel reign was expelled. Swift.
51. To creep; to move by creeping or crawling; as, serpents run on the ground.
52. To slide; as, a sled or sleigh runs on the snow.
53. To dart; to shoot; as, a meteor in the sky.
54. To fly; to move in the air; as, the clouds runs front N. E. to S. W.
55. In Scripture, to pursue or practice the duties of religion. Ye did run well; who did hinder you? Gal. v.
56. In elections, to have interest or favor; to be supported by votes. The candidate will not run, or he will run well. To run after, to pursue or follow. #2. To search for; to endeavor to find or obtain; as, to run after similes. Locke. To run at, to attack with the horns, as a bull. To run away, to flee; to escape. To run away with, to hurry without deliberation. Locke. #2. To convey away; or to assist in escape or elopement. To run in, to enter; to step in. To run into, to enter; as, to run into danger. To run in trust, to run in debt; to get credit. [Not in use.] To run in with, to close; to comply; to agree with. [Unusual.] Baker. #2. To make toward; to near; to sail close to; as, to run in with the land; a seaman's phrase. To run down a coast, to sail along it. To run down a vessel, is to strike it in sailing. To run on, to be continued. Their accounts had run on for a year or two without a settlement. #2. To talk incessantly. #3. To continue a course. Drayton. #4. To press with jokes or ridicule; to abuse with sarcasms; to bear hard on. To run over, to overflow; as, a cup runs over; or the liquor runs over. To run out, to come to an end; to expire; as, a lease runs out at Michaelmas. #2. To spread exuberantly; as, insectile animals run out into legs. Hammond. #3. To expatiate; as, to run out into beautiful digressions. He runs out in praise of Milton. Addison. #4. To be wasted or exhausted; as, an estate managed without economy, will soon run out. #5. To become poor by extravagance. And had her stock been less, no doubt / She must have long ago run out. Dryden. To run up, to rise; to swell; to amount. Accounts of goods credit run up very fast.

1. To drive or push; in a general sense. Hence to run a sword through the body, is to stab or pierce it.
2. To drive; to force. A talkative person runs himself upon great inconveniences, by blabbing out his own or others' secrets. Ray. Others accustomed to retired speculations, run natural philosophy into metaphysical notions. Locke.
3. To cause to be driven. They ran the ship aground. Acts xxvii.
4. To melt; to fuse. The purest gold must be run and washed. Felton.
5. To incur; to encounter; to run the risk or hazard of losing one's property. To run the danger, is a phrase not now in use.
6. To venture; to hazard. He would himself be in the Highlands to receive them, and run his fortune with them. Clarendon.
7. To smuggle; to import or export without paying the duties required by law; as, to run goods.
8. To pursue in thought; to carry in contemplation; as, 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 sclieas. Collier.
9. To push; to thrust; as, to run the hand into the pocket or the bosom; to run a nail into the foot.
10. To ascertain and mark by metes and bounds; as, to run a line between towns or states.
11. To cause to ply; to maintain in running or passing; as, to run a stage coach from London to Bristol; to run a line of packets from New Haven to New York.
12. To cause to pass; as, to run a rope through a block.
13. To found; to shape, form or make in a mold; to cast; as, to run buttons or balls. To run down, in hunting, to chase to weariness; as, to run down a stag. #2. In navigation, to run down a vessel, is to run against her, end on, and sink her. Mar. Did. #3. To crush; to overthrow; to overbear. Religion is run down by the license of these times. Berkeley. To run hard, to press with jokes, sarcasm or ridicule. #2. To urge or press importunately. To run over, to recount in a cursory manner; to narrate hastily; as, to run over the particulars of a story. #2. To consider cursorily. #3. To pass the eye over hastily. To run out, to thrust or push out; to extend. #2. To waste; to exhaust; as, to run out an estate. To run through, to expend; to waste; as, to run through an estate. To run up, to increase; to enlarge by additions. A man who takes goods on credit, is apt to run up his account to a large sum before he is aware of it. #2. To thrust up; as any thing long and slender.

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. 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.
3. The act of running; as, a long run; a good run; a quick run; to go on the run.
4. Melted, or made from molten material; cast in a mold; as, run butter; run iron or lead.
5. To strike (the ball) in such a way as to cause it to run along the ground, as when approaching a hole.
6. To go swiftly; to pass at a swift pace; to hasten.
   
   

   "Ha, ha, the fox!" and after him they ran. Chaucer.

   (b)

7. 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.

8. A small stream; a brook; a creek.
9. Smuggled; as, run goods.
   
   
   [Colloq.] Miss Edgeworth.

   Run steel, malleable iron castings. See under Malleable. Raymond.

10. 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)
11. 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.

12. 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.
13. 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).
14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

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

    The purest gold must be run and washed. Felton.

18. 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.

19. To cause to be drawn; to mark out; to indicate; to determine; as, to run a line.
20. 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.

21. 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.

22. A continuing urgent demand; especially, a pressure on a bank or treasury for payment of its notes.
23. To go through or accomplish by running; as, to run a race; to run a certain career.
24. A range or extent of ground for feeding stock; as, a sheep run.
    
    
    Howitt.
25. To cause to stand as a candidate for office; to support for office; as, to run some one for Congress.
    
    
    [Colloq. U.S.]
26. The aftermost part of a vessel's hull where it narrows toward the stern, under the quarter.
    
    
    (b)
27. 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.
28. A pleasure excursion; a trip.
    
    
    [Colloq.]

    I think of giving her a run in London. Dickens.

29. 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.

30. 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.
31. 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 Cæsar fell. Shak.

32. A roulade, or series of running tones.
33. To be charged with, or to contain much of, while flowing; as, the rivers ran blood.
34. The greatest degree of swiftness in marching. It is executed upon the same principles as the double-quick, but with greater speed.
35. To conduct; to manage; to carry on; as, to run a factory or a hotel.
    
    
    [Colloq. U.S.]
36. 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.
37. To tease with sarcasms and ridicule.
    
    
    [Colloq.]
38. 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.

39. 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.
40. 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.

41. 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.