run the rule over

verb

To examine carefully and thoroughly.

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Meanings

verbrun the rule over (third-person singular simple present runs the rule over, present participle running the rule over, simple past ran the rule over, past participle run the rule over)

present singular third person runs the rule over · participle present running the rule over · past ran the rule over

  1. idiomatictransitiveTo examine carefully and thoroughly.

    The captain used to to^([sic]) run the rule over every new recruit, like a protective father inspecting the boy his darling daughter had brought home to tea. He was obsessive about it.

    2018 May 4, Tom English, “Steven Gerrard: A 'seriously clever or recklessly stupid' Rangers appointment”, in BBC Sport
    1 more example

    The doctor found his patient propped up on a doorstep. Having, as he expressed it afterwards, "run the rule over him," he prescribed a glass of water and an hour's rest. The man was shaken, that was all.

    1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
Cite this entry
APA

run the rule over. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/run%20the%20rule%20over

MLA

“run the rule over.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/run%20the%20rule%20over. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “run the rule over,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/run%20the%20rule%20over.

Source: run the rule over on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.