long run for a short slide

noun

A large expenditure of effort for a modest benefit.

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Meanings

noun
  1. A large expenditure of effort for a modest benefit.

    The tour lasted exactly thirty minutes. Bill said that the trip was “a long run for a short slide.”

    2013, Elizabeth Becker, Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism, page 339
    2 more examples

    “We don't give them or go to them unless asked by good friends, and as far as being a source of news,“ added the journalist, “I've never gotten one good story from a dinner party in my life. In that respect they're a long run for a short slide."

    1973, The Washingtonian, volume 8, page 98

    For a small burn, with plenty of the patient's own skin available, allograft application is a long run for a short slide.

    2004, Arnold Arem, In Our Hands: A Hand Surgeon's Tales of the Body's Most ..., page 204
Cite this entry
APA

long run for a short slide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/long%20run%20for%20a%20short%20slide

MLA

“long run for a short slide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/long%20run%20for%20a%20short%20slide. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “long run for a short slide,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/long%20run%20for%20a%20short%20slide.

Source: long run for a short slide on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.