catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  Run \Run\, n.
     1. The act of running; as, a long run; a good run; a quick
        run; to go on the run.
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     2. A small stream; a brook; a creek.
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     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.
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     4. A course; a series; that which continues in a certain
        course or series; as, a run of good or bad luck.
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              They who made their arrangements in the first run of
              misadventure . . . put a seal on their calamities.
                                                    --Burke.
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     5. State of being current; currency; popularity.
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              It is impossible for detached papers to have a
              general run, or long continuance, if not diversified
              with humor.                           --Addison.
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     6. Continued repetition on the stage; -- said of a play; as,
        to have a run of a hundred successive nights.
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              A canting, mawkish play . . . had an immense run.
                                                    --Macaulay.
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     7. A continuing urgent demand; especially, a pressure on a
        bank or treasury for payment of its notes.
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     8. A range or extent of ground for feeding stock; as, a sheep
        run. --Howitt.
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     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.
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     10. A pleasure excursion; a trip. [Colloq.]
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               I think of giving her a run in London. --Dickens.
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     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.
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     12. (Mus.) A roulade, or series of running tones.
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     13. (Mil.) The greatest degree of swiftness in marching. It
         is executed upon the same principles as the double-quick,
         but with greater speed.
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     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.
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     15. (Sport) In baseball, a complete circuit of the bases made
         by a player, which enables him to score one point; also,
         the point thus scored; 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 Yankees scored three runs in the
         seventh inning.
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               The ``runs'' are made from wicket to wicket, the
               batsmen interchanging ends at each run. --R. A.
                                                    Proctor.
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     16. A pair or set of millstones.
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     17. (Piquet, Cribbage, etc.) A number of cards of the same
         suit in sequence; as, a run of four in hearts.
         [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     18. (Golf)
         (a) The movement communicated to a golf ball by running.
         (b) The distance a ball travels after touching the ground
             from a stroke.
             [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     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.
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              [Man] starts the inferior of the brute animals, but
              he surpasses them in the long run.    --J. H.
                                                    Newman.
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     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, or The run of the mill
        etc., ordinary persons; the generality or average of
        people or things; also, that which ordinarily occurs;
        ordinary current, course, or kind.
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              I saw nothing else that is superior to the common
              run of parks.                         --Walpole.
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              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.
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              His whole appearance was something out of the common
              run.                                  --W. Irving.
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     To let go by the run (Naut.), to loosen and let run freely,
        as lines; to let fall without restraint, as a sail.
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