Definition of Run down

1. Verb. Trace. "We are running down a few tips"

Exact synonyms: Check Out
Generic synonyms: Act On, Follow Up On, Pursue

2. Verb. Move downward. "The water ran down"
Generic synonyms: Course, Feed, Flow, Run

3. Verb. Injure or kill by running over, as with a vehicle.
Exact synonyms: Run Over
Generic synonyms: Injure, Wound

4. Verb. Use up all one's strength and energy and stop working. "At the end of the march, I pooped out"
Exact synonyms: Conk Out, Peter Out, Poop Out, Run Out
Generic synonyms: Fatigue, Jade, Pall, Tire, Weary

5. Verb. Examine hastily. "She scanned the newspaper headlines while waiting for the taxi"
Exact synonyms: Glance Over, Rake, Scan, Skim
Generic synonyms: Examine, See
Derivative terms: Skim, Skimming

6. Verb. Deplete. "They run down the money "; "We quickly played out our strength"
Exact synonyms: Exhaust, Play Out, Sap, Tire
Related verbs: Play Out
Generic synonyms: Consume, Deplete, Eat, Eat Up, Exhaust, Run Through, Use Up, Wipe Out
Derivative terms: Exhaustion, Sapper

7. Verb. Pursue until captured. "They ran down the fugitive"

Definition of Run down

1. Verb. (transitive) To hit someone with a car or other vehicle and injure or kill them. ¹

2. Verb. (transitive) To criticize someone or an organisation, often unfairly. ¹

3. Verb. (transitive) To find something or someone after searching for a long time. ¹

4. Verb. (transitive intransitive) To lose power slowly. Used for a machine, battery, or other powered device. ¹

5. Verb. (transitive) To read quickly a list or other short text. ¹

6. Verb. (British transitive) To reduce the size or stock levels of a business, often with a view to closure. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Run Down

run around after
run around like a chicken with its head cut off
run around with
run away
run away with
run back
run bases
run batted in
run book
run by
run chase
run chases
run circles around
run circles round
run counter
run down (current term)
run down the clock
run dry
run for
run for it
run for office
run for one's money
run for the hills
run for the roses
run hot and cold
run in
run in the family
run interference
run into
run into the ground

Literary usage of Run down

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. St. Nicholas by Mary Mapes Dodge (1886)
"THE GIRLS' TRICYCLE CLUB AND ITS run down THE CAPE. BY E. VINTON BLAKE. TRICYCLES had become an every-day affair in ..."

2. United States Supreme Court Reports by Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, United States Supreme Court (1882)
"... for the source of the main stream, still the line must run down that lowest water course to the south fork, and down the south fork to the old line. ..."

3. Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature by H.W. Wilson Company (1916)
"Am Econ R 5:805-15 D '15 Building up the run-down farm. OR Geyer. Country Life 29:16.) Ap '16 Land tenure reform and democracy. G: E. Putnam. ..."

4. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General by Thomas Spencer Baynes (1888)
"... had a considerable declivity, a ship which had taken the ground on the beach near low water mark was actually run down and damaged by another stranded ..."

5. The Edinburgh Review by Sydney Smith (1869)
"the former run down the stem; the top is pale grey, which becomes darker as the plants get older. Mrs. Hussey reports well of the oyster-fungus, ..."

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