Rŭn1, v. i.
v. i. [imp. RAN, or RUN; p. p. RUN; p. pr. & vb. n. RUNNING.] [O. Eng. rin, rinnen, rennen, A-S. rinnan (imp. rann), runnon, rinnen, and more commonly irnan (imp. arn), urnon, urnen, also rennan, O. Sax., Goth., & O. H. Ger. rinnan, D. rennen, N. H. Ger. rennen, rinnen, O. Fries., & Icel. renna, Sw. ränna, rinna, Dan. rende, rinde.]
Sense 1. To go with a lighter or more rapid gait than by walking; to step quickly or spryly; to go in a quick, hurried manner; hence, — said of inanimate things, — to move with an easy or rapid movement; to proceed glibly.
Sense 2. To move or go; — said of voluntary or personal action; as, (a.) To hasten; to hurry; especially in circumstances of alarm or danger,
The priest and people run about, And all the ports are thronging out, As if their safety were to quit Their mother. B. Jonson.
(b.) To retreat; to fly away. “The difference between the valor of the Irish and the Spaniards was, that the one run away before they were charged, and the other straight after.” Bacon. (c.) To steal off; to quit; to depart. “My conscience will serve me to run from this Jew, my master.” 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. 25. (e.) To go from one state to another; to become; as, to run into evil practices; to run into 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. “If you suspend your indignation against my brother . . . you should run a certain course.” Shak. (g.) To pass, in thought or conversation, 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. (i.) To press for payment, as upon a bank, with numerous demands. (j.) To creep, as serpents.
Sense 3. To be moved; to pass; to go; — said of involuntary motion; as, (a.) To flow, as a liquid; to descend, as a stream.
As wax dissolves, as ice begins to run, . . . So melts the youth. Addison.
(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. “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 rapidly round. (e.) To move on wheels or runners; as, a locomotive runs thirty miles an hour. (f.) To extend through a period of time; to reach; as, the memory of which 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, as a stage, a packet, and the like. (h.) To make progress; to proceed; to pass; as, language runs smoothly; time runs by. “As fast as our time runs, we should be 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, an engine runs night and day. “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. (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.’” Sanderson. (l.) To be popularly known; to be generally received. “Men gave them their own names, by which they ran a great while in Rome.” Sir W. Temple. “He was not ignorant what report run of himself.” Knolles. (m.) To have growth or development; to evince life, energy, &c.; 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 sufficiently distinguished, but near the borders they run into one another.” 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 are said to 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.” Childs. (q.) To continue without failing due; to hold good; as, a note has thirty days to run. (r.) To discharge pus or other matter; as, an ulcer runs.
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 amuck. See AMUCK. — To run at, to attack with the horns, as a bull. — To run away, to flee; to escape. — To run away with. (a.) To convey away; to assist in escape or elopement. (b.) To drag rapidly and with violence; as, a horse runs away with a carriage. — To run down a coast, to sail along it. — To run in or into, to enter; to step in. — To run in trust, to run in debt; to get credit. [Obs.] — To run in with. (a.) To close; to comply; to agree with. [Rare.] Baker. (b.) (Naut.) To make toward; to near; to sail close to; as, to run in with the land. — 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 sarcasms; to bear hard on. (e.) (Print.) To be continued in the same line, without making a break, or commencing a new paragraph. — To run out. (a.) To come to an end; to expire; as, a lease runs out at Michaelmas. (b.) 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; 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 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. W. Scott.