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RUN DOWN
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Use up all one's strength and energy and stop working
Example:
At the end of the march, I pooped out
Synonyms:
conk out; peter out; poop out; run down; run out
Classified under:
Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care
Hypernyms (to "run down" is one way to...):
fatigue; jade; pall; tire; weary (lose interest or become bored with something or somebody)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Sense 2
Meaning:
Injure or kill by knocking (someone or something) down and passing over the body, as with a vehicle
Synonyms:
run down; run over
Classified under:
Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care
Hypernyms (to "run down" is one way to...):
injure; wound (cause injuries or bodily harm to)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Sense 3
Meaning:
Pursue until captured
Example:
They ran down the fugitive
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "run down" is one way to...):
chase; chase after; dog; give chase; go after; tag; tail; track; trail (go after with the intent to catch)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Sense 4
Meaning:
Move downward
Example:
The water ran down
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "run down" is one way to...):
course; feed; flow; run (move along, of liquids)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Sense 5
Meaning:
Examine hastily
Example:
She scanned the newspaper headlines while waiting for the taxi
Synonyms:
glance over; rake; run down; scan; skim
Classified under:
Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling
Hypernyms (to "run down" is one way to...):
examine; see (observe, check out, and look over carefully or inspect)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Sense 6
Meaning:
Deplete
Example:
We quickly played out our strength
Synonyms:
exhaust; play out; run down; sap; tire
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Hypernyms (to "run down" is one way to...):
consume; deplete; eat; eat up; exhaust; run through; use up; wipe out (use up (resources or materials))
Verb group:
play out (become spent or exhausted)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 7
Meaning:
Trace
Example:
We are running down a few tips
Synonyms:
check out; run down
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "run down" is one way to...):
act on; follow up on; pursue (carry further or advance)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Context examples:
Boots had then run down the lane, and another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been hurt.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
If we run down this Black Dog, now, there'll be news for Cap'n Trelawney!
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
This full moon could find you run down and desperately in need of rest.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
The frost bites their lungs, and they get the dry cough. They cough till the tears run down their cheeks.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Jane, run down to Mr. Mason's room,—the one next mine,—and fetch a cloak you will see there.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He loved to run down dry watercourses, and to creep and spy upon the bird life in the woods.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
“I’ll run down an’ tyke a look over my kit, if you’ve no objections, sir, to wearin’ my things.”
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Others demonstrate phenomenal stamina as they relentlessly run down quarry.
(Hound Breed, NCI Thesaurus)
After a little succession of these sort of debates and consultations, it was settled between Charles and his two sisters, that he and Henrietta should just run down for a few minutes, to see their aunt and cousins, while the rest of the party waited for them at the top of the hill.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
We shall go there and search that house; and when we learn what it holds, then we do what our friend Arthur call, in his phrases of hunt 'stop the earths' and so we run down our old fox—so? is it not?
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
