To run down

Run 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: [1913 Webster]

2. Of voluntary or personal action: (a) To go swiftly; to pass at a swift pace; to hasten. [1913 Webster]

``Ha, ha, the fox!'' and after him they ran. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] (b) To flee, as from fear or danger. [1913 Webster]

As from a bear a man would run for life. --Shak. [1913 Webster] (c) To steal off; to depart secretly. [1913 Webster] (d) To contend in a race; hence, to enter into a contest; to become a candidate; as, to run for Congress. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster]

Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast, to rend my heart with grief and run distracted? --Addison. [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster]

Virgil, in his first Georgic, has run into a set of precepts foreign to his subject. --Addison. [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

The fire ran along upon the ground. --Ex. ix. 23. [1913 Webster] (c) To become fluid; to melt; to fuse. [1913 Webster]

As wax dissolves, as ice begins to run. --Addison. [1913 Webster]

Sussex iron ores run freely in the fire. --Woodward. [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster]

She saw with joy the line immortal run, Each sire impressed, and glaring in his son. --Pope. [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster]

As fast as our time runs, we should be very glad in most part of our lives that it ran much faster. --Addison. [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster] (j) To have a course or direction; as, a line runs east and west. [1913 Webster]

Where the generally allowed practice runs counter to it. --Locke. [1913 Webster]

Little is the wisdom, where the flight So runs against all reason. --Shak. [1913 Webster] (k) To be in form thus, as a combination of words. [1913 Webster]

The king's ordinary style runneth, ``Our sovereign lord the king.'' --Bp. Sanderson. [1913 Webster] (l) To be popularly known; to be generally received. [1913 Webster]

Men gave them their own names, by which they run a great while in Rome. --Sir W. Temple. [1913 Webster]

Neither was he ignorant what report ran of himself. --Knolles. [1913 Webster] (m) To have growth or development; as, boys and girls run up rapidly. [1913 Webster]

If the richness of the ground cause turnips to run to leaves. --Mortimer. [1913 Webster] (n) To tend, as to an effect or consequence; to incline. [1913 Webster]

A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

Temperate climates run into moderate governments. --Swift. [1913 Webster] (o) To spread and blend together; to unite; as, colors run in washing. [1913 Webster]

In the middle of a rainbow the colors are . . . distinguished, but near the borders they run into one another. --I. Watts. [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster]

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). [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

{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 {To run into}. (a) To enter; to step in. (b) To come in collision with.

{To run into} To meet, by chance; as, I ran into my brother at the grocery store.

{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 {To run mad 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. [1913 Webster]

And had her stock been less, no doubt She must have long ago run out. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

{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. [1913 Webster]

But these, having been untrimmed for many years, had run up into great bushes, or rather dwarf trees. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]

{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. [1913 Webster]