run 
H. trans. 1. To cause to run. Specifically (a) 
To cause to go at a rapid pace (especially in the gait 
knou n us the run), as a horse ; also, to enter, as a horse, 
for a race ; hence, colloquially, to put forward as a candi- 
date for any prize or honor. 
Beggars mounted run their horse to death. 
ShaK., 3 Hen. VI., i. 4. 127. 
It was requisite in former times for a man of fashion, 
. . . using the words of an old romance writer, ''to runne 
horses and to approve them." 
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 100. 
If any enterprising burglar had taken it into his head to 
"crack " that particular crib ". . . and got clear otf with 
the "swag," he ... might have been run ... for Congress 
in a year or two. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, xxxvii. 
(&) To direct the course of ; cause to go or pass as by guid- 
ing, forcing, driving, thrusting, pushing, etc.: as, to run 
one's head against a wall ; to run a train otf the track ; to 
run a thread through a piece of cloth ; to run a dagger Into 
one's arm. 
And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran 
the ship aground. Acts xxvii. 41. 
In peril every hour to split, 
Some unknown harbour suddenly [they] must sound, 
Or nm their fortunes desp'rately on ground. 
Drayton, Barons' Wars, i. 55. 
The glass was so clear that she thought it had been open, 
and so ran her head through the glass. 
Quoted in S. Dowelli Tales in England, IV. 303. 
(c) To cause to operate, work, ply, or perform the usual 
functions ; keep in motion or operation, as a railway, a 
mill, or an engine : extended in the I'nited States to the 
direction and management of any establishment, enter- 
prise, or person : as, to run a mill, a hotel, or a school ; 
that party is running the State. 
The Democratic State Conventions have been largely 
run by the office-holding element. The American, XII. 307. 
It is of ten said of the President that ho is ruled or, as 
the Americans express it, run by his secretary. 
Bryce, American Commonwealth, I. 84. 
A small knot of persons . . . pull the wires for the 
whole city, controlling the primaries, selecting candidates, 
' ' running " conventions. 
Bryce, American Commonwealth, II. 75. 
(d) To pour forth, as a stream ; let flow ; discharge ; emit. 
Even at the base of Pompey's statua, 
Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell. 
Shak., J. C., iii. 2. 193. 
(e) To melt ; fuse ; shape by melting and molding : as, to 
run lead or silver. 
The Tonquinese understand how to run Metals, and are 
very expert in tempering the Earth wherewith they make 
their mould. Dumpier, Voyages, II. i. 70. 
Hence (/) To form by molding ; mold ; cast: as, to rim 
bullets, (g) To cause to pass or change into a particular 
state ; transform ; cause to become. 
These wild woods, and the fancies I have in me, 
Will run me mad. Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii. 3. 
Others, accustomed to retired speculations, nm natural 
philosophy into metaphysical notions. Locke. 
(A) To extend; stretch; especially, in surveying, to go 
over, observe, and mark by stakes, bench-marks, and the 
like : as. to run parallel lines ; to run a line of levels from 
one point to another; to run a boundary-line (that is. to 
mark it upon the ground in accordance with an agree- 
ment). 
We . . . rounded by the stillness of the beach 
To where the bay runs up its latest horn. 
Tennyson, Audley Court. 
2. To accomplish or execute by running; hence, 
in general, to go through ; perform ; do : as, to 
run a trip or voyage ; to run an errand. 
Sesounes schal yow neuer sese of sede ne of heruest, . . . 
Bot euer mine restles rengnesje [courses] ther-inne. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), U. 527. 
If thy wits run the wild-goose chase, I have done. 
Shak., R. and J., ii. 4. 75. 
What course I rune, Mr. Beachamp desireth to doe y 
same. 
Slierley, quoted in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 229. 
The Prince's grandfather . . . ran errands for gentle- 
men, and lent money. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Ixiv. 
The year 
Ruin his old round of dubious cheer. 
M. Arnold, Resignation. 
3. To run after ; pursue ; chase ; hunt by run- 
ning down. 
Alate we ran the deer. 
Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay. 
Neit to the still-hunt the method called " running buf- 
falo "was the moat fatal to the race, and the one most 
universally practiced. Smithsonian Report, 18s7, ii. 470. 
4. To pursue in thought ; trace or carry in con- 
templation from point to point, as back along 
a series of causes or of antecedents. 
To run the world back to its first original ... is a re- 
search too great for mortal enquiry. South. 
I would gladly understand the formation of a soul, and 
run it up to its punctum saliens. Jeremy Collier. 
5. To pass rapidly along, over, through, or 
by; travel past or through, generally with the 
idea of danger or difficulty successfully over- 
come; hence, to break through or evade: as, 
to run the rapids; to run a blockade. Hence 
6. To cause to pass or evade official restric- 
tions ; smuggle ; import or export without pay- 
ing duties. 
5271 
Yorke had run his kegs of spirits ashore duty-free. 
E. Dou'den, Shelley, I. 157. 
All along the coasts of Kent and Sussex, and the dis- 
tricts most favourably situated for running spirits, almost 
the whole of the labouring population were every now 
and then withdrawn from their ordinary employments to 
engage in smuggling adventures. 
S. DoweU, Taxes in England, IV. 218. 
7. To be exposed to; incur: as, to nm a hazard, 
a risk, or a danger. 
He must have run the risque of the Law, and been put 
upon his clergy. C'ongreve, Way of the World, v. 1. 
During an absence of six years, I run some risk of los- 
ing most of the distinction, literary and political, which 
I have acquired. Atacaulay, in Trevelyan, I. 810. 
8. To venture; hazard; risk. 
He would himself be in the Highlands to receive them 
and run his fortune with them. Clarendon. 
Q. To pierce ; stab : as, to run a person through 
with a rapier. 
I'll run him up to the hilts, as I am a soldier. 
Shak., Hen. V., ii. 1. 68. 
I was run twice through the body, and shot i' th' head 
with a cross arrow. Beau, and Fl., King and No King, ii. 1. 
10. To sew by passing the needle through in 
a continuous line, generally taking a row of 
stitches on the needle at the same time : as, to 
ran a seam; also, to make a number of such 
rows of stitches, in parallel lines, as in darning; 
hence, to darn; mend: as, to run stockings. 
11. To tease; chaff; plague; nag: as, she was 
always teasing and running him. [Colloq.] 
12. To fish in: as, to run a stream Hard run. 
See hard, Eun net. See ne(L. Run up, in bookbinding, 
said of a book-back in which a fillet is run from head to 
tail without being mitered in each cross-band. To run a 
bead, in carp, and joinery, to form a bead, as on the edge 
or angle of a board. To run a blockade. See blockade. 
To run a levant*. See levant*. To run a match, to 
contend with another in running. To run and fell, to 
make (as a seam) by running and felling. See/e#i, n., 2. 
To run a rig, a risk, etc. See the nouns. To run down. 
() In hunting, to chase till exhausted : as, to run down 
a stag ; hence, figuratively, to pursue and overtake, as a 
criminal ; hunt down ; persecute. 
Must great offenders, once escaped the crown, 
Like royal harts be never more run down' 
Pope, Epil. to Satires, ii. 29. 
My being hunted and nm down on the score of my past 
transactions with regard to the family affairs is an abomi- 
nably unjust and unnatural thing. 
George Eliot, Felix Holt, xlii. 
(&) Naut., to collide with (a ship); especially, to sink (a 
ship) by collision, (e) To overthrow ; overwhelm. 
Religion is run down by the license of these times. 
Bp. Berkeley. 
(d) To depreciate ; disparage ; abuse. 
It was Cynthio's humour to run down everything that 
was rather for ostentation than use. 
Addison, Ancient Medals, i. 
No person should be permitted to kill characters and 
run down reputations, but qualified old maids and disap- 
pointed widows. Shemdan, School for Scandal, ii. 2. 
(e) To reduce in health or strength : as, he was run down 
by overwork. To run hard, (a) To press hard in a race 
or other competition. 
Livingstone headed the list, though Fallowfleld ran him 
hard. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, xii. 
(&) To urge or press importunately. [Colloq. in both uses.) 
To run In. (a) In printing: (I) To cause to follow 
without break, as a word, clause, etc., after other matter 
in type. (2) To make room for (a small woodcut or other 
form of illustration) by overrunning or rearranging com- 
posed types; sometimes, conversely, the type thus ar- 
ranged is said to be run in beside the woodcut. (6) To 
take into custody ; arrest and confine ; lock up, as a cul- 
prit or criminal. [Slang.] 
The respectable gentleman [the consul] who in a foreign 
seaport town takes my part if I get run in by the police. 
N. and Q., 7th ser., VIII. 49. 
(c) To confine ; inclose ; corral : as, to run in cattle. 
To run into the ground, to carry to an extreme ; over- 
do. [Colloq., U. ] To run Oft', (a) To cause to flow 
out : as, to run off a charge of molten metal from a fur- 
nace. (6) Theat., to move or roll off, as scenes from the 
stage, (e) In printing, to take impressions of ; print : as, 
this press will run off ten thousand every hour ; to run off 
an edition, (d) To tell off; repeat; count: as, he ran of 
the list or the figures from memory. To run on. (a) In 
printing, to carry on or continue, as matter to fill up an 
incomplete line, without break. (6) Theat., to move or 
bring upon the stage by means of wheels or rollers. 
Nearly all scenes which are not raised or lowered by 
ropes from the "rigging-loft," or space under the roof 
above the stage, are mounted on wheels which enable 
them to be easily moved upon the stage, hence the com- 
pound verbs run on and run off, which are in universal use 
in the theatre. The word ' move "is scarcelv ever heard. 
New York Tribune, July 14, 1889. 
() In mach.. to start (a machine or an apparatus! by con- 
necting it or some part of it with a prime motor, or by 
some other adjustment necessary to set it in motion or 
action. To nm one's face. $ee/oei. To run one's 
letters. See letter*. To run out. (a) To run to com- 
pletion ; make an end of ; exhaust : as, we bad nm out all 
our line. 
Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race. 
Milton, Ode on Time. 
(&) To cause to depart suddenly and by force; banish : as. 
to run a thief out of town or camp ; run him out. [Slang, 
U. S.] (c) To carry out the end of, as a warp, hawser, 
run 
cable, or the like, for the purpose of mooring or warping 
it to any object, (d) To cause to project beyond the ports 
by advancing the muzzles by means of the side-tackles : 
said of guns. To run (something) over, to hurry over; 
go through cursorily and hastily. 
And because these praiers are very many, therefore they 
run them ouer. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 196. 
But who can run the British triumphs o'er, 
And count the flames disperst on every shore? 
Addison, To the King. 
To run the bath, in canning fish or lobsters, to take the 
cans out of the first bath, prick or probe them to let out 
gas, and seal them up again. To run the foil, the 
gantlet, the hazard, the net. See the nouns. To run 
the rig upon. See rig-s.lo run the stage. See the 
quotation. 
Before the scene can be set it is necessary to run the 
stage that is, to get everything in the line of properties, 
such as stands of arms, chairs and tables, and scenery, 
ready to be put in place. Scribner's Uag , IV. 444. 
To run the works, in whaling, to try out oil. To run 
through, In founding, to permit (the molten metal) to flow 
through the mold long enough to remove all air-bubbles, 
in order to insure a casting free from the defects resulting 
from such bubbles: expressed also by to flow. To run 
to cover or ground. Same as to run to earth. 1o run 
to earth. See earthi. To run together, to join by 
sewing, as the edges of stuff in making a seam. To run 
UP. (a) To raise in amount or value ; increase by gradual 
additions ; accumulate. 
Between the middle of April and the end of Mayshercm 
i'p a bill of a hundred and five livres. 
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XXIL 288. 
(6) To sew up with a running stitch, especially in mend- 
ing ; hence, to repair quickly or temporarily. 
I want you to run up a tear in my flounce. 
C. Reade, Love me Little, xiv. 
(c) To put up, erect, or construct hastily : as, to run up a 
block of buildings. 
What signifies a theatre? . . . just a side wing or two 
run up, doors in flat, and three or four scenes to be let 
down ; nothing more would be necessary. 
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, liii. 
Nature never ran up in her haste a more restless piece 
of workmanship. Lamb, My Relations. 
(d) To execute by hanging : as. they dragged the wretch 
to a tree and ran him up. [Western U. S.] 
run 1 (run), n. [Partly < ME. rune, rene, ren, a 
course, run, running, < AS. ryne, course, path, 
orbit, also flow, flux (see rine 3 , runnel), partly 
directly from the verb: see run 1 , i\] 1. The 
act of running. 
The wyf cam lepyng inward with a ren. 
Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 159. 
Thou mayst slide from my shoulder to my heel with no 
greater a run but my head and my neck. A fire, good 
Curtis. Shak., T. of the S., iv. 1. 16. 
They . . . were in the midst of a good run, and at some 
distance from Mansfield, when, his horse being found to 
have flung a shoe, Henry Crawford had been obliged to 
give up, and make the best of his way back. 
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, xxv. 
Specifically (a) A leaping or springing gait, of horses or 
other quadrupeds, consisting in most animals of an ac- 
celeration of the action of the gallop, with two, three, or 
Run. Consecutive positions, after instantaneous photographs 
by Eadweard Muybndge 
all the feet off the ground at the same time during the 
stride. (&) In bipedal locomotion, as of man, a gait in 
which each foot in turn leaves the ground before the other 
reaches it. (c) A race : as, the horses were matched for a 
run at Newmarket, (d) A chase; a hunt: as, a run with 
the hounds, (e) Milit. . the highest degree of quickness in 
the marching step: on the same principle as the double- 
quick, but with more speed. 
2. A traveling or going, generally with speed 
or haste ; a passage ; a journey ; a trip ; also, 
