run down

present singular third person runs down · participle present running down · past ran down

1. transitiveTo hit someone with a car or other vehicle and injure or kill them.

   He was run down while crossing the main road.

   1 more example

   'One of our witnesses has already had the misfortune to be rather badly run down while cycling, and I've had a natty-looking box of chocolates by post from an "unknown friend" myself,' replied the inspector.

   1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

   Synonyms: run over, knock down

2. transitiveTo criticize someone or an organisation, often unfairly.

   Don't run yourself down so much!

   4 more examples

   Whatever the company says, the media is going to run them down.

   My sister is always running me down in front of my friends.

   Ha! ha! ha! 'tis very hard for them to leave a subject they have not quite run down.

   1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, I.i

   Since I have put my name in GCN and received my first paper, I have only received two letters. But the one that pissed me off […] was from Bible belt hypocrite. He sent me an envelope full of tracts about homosexuality. Well, I have this to say to whoever he is (The person that's got nothing better to do than get the GCN to see who he can run down should take a damn good look at himself).

   1981 February 14, Richard Credill, “Take Him By The Hand”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 29, page 5

3. transitiveTo find something or someone after searching for a long time.

   I finally managed to run down that report. I had filed it incorrectly.

   Synonyms: run to earth, run to ground, put down, demean, berate, track down

4. intransitivetransitiveTo lose power slowly. Used for a machine, battery, or other powered device.

   You need to wind up the clock every day so that it doesn't run down.

   1 more example

   If you don't switch off the car lights, you will run the battery down.

5. transitiveTo read quickly a list or other short text.

   Running down the list of suggestions, I can see three we can discard immediately.

6. transitiveTo describe in the form of a rundown, a rough outline or summary.

   When the minute was up, John Jay managed to make the woman twice as nervous as he ran down the rules and the possibilities.

   2013, Nora Roberts, The Name of the Game

7. UKtransitiveTo reduce the size or stock levels of a business, often with a view to closure.

   The board of directors have decided to run down the stocks held in storage prior to offering the company for sale.

   2 more examples

   Before you move, you should run down your food supplies in the fridge, freezer, and pantry to use up as much as possible.

   Social media has been full of strident criticism of a Government perceived as pursuing a conscious policy to run down - even destroy - our railway.

   2022 November 30, Nigel Harris, “A bid to break the other side?”, in RAIL, number 971, page 3

8. To decline in quality or condition.

   to run down in health

   1 more example

   TravelWatch SouthWest Chairman Chris Irwin said: "This is intolerable. The South West deserves levelling up, not running down. SWR and its sponsors in the Department of Transport must be called to account."

   2022 January 26, Paul Clifton, “"Intolerable" service cuts under emergency COVID timetables”, in RAIL, number 949, page 8

9. hobbiesTo chase till the object pursued is captured or exhausted.

   to run down a stag

10. transitivenauticalTo run against and sink, as a vessel.

    Hiei now loomed into the action, causing the leading U.S. destroyers to scatter before the oncoming behemoth lest they be run down.

    2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 14:35 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 17 Oct 2022

    1 more example

    The Jylland only missed running down a schooner by a few yards in the fog; it was a near thing—near enough, in fact, to allow of some shouted remarks between those on the bridge of the motorship and the man at the wheel of the schooner to be clearly heard.

    1943 May and June, Chas. S. Lake, “Some Continental Travel Experiences (1922-1939)—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 143

11. transitiveTo crush; to overthrow; to overbear.

    Religion is […]run down by the prevailing licence of these times.

    1736, George Berkeley, A Discourse addressed to Magistrates and Men of Authority

12. slangtransitiveAfrican-American VernacularTo approach (someone, thing or place) aggressively, as to attack.

    He ran down on Rashad and them.

13. transitivemediaTo move (some copy) down to the next line.

    If they occasionally supply any additional copy after this element, run it down with a manual line break.

14. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run, down.