run away

Verb

run away (third-person singular simple present runs away, present participle running away, simple past ran away, past participle run away)

1. To flee by running.
   • The crowd had to run away from the burning structure with only the clothes on their backs.
   • Sometimes I feel I've got to / Run away / I've got to / Get away from the pain you drive into the heart of me1965, Ed Cobb, “Tainted Love”, in Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, performed by Soft Cell, published 1981
2. To leave home, or other place of residence, usually unannounced, or to make good on a threat, with such action usually performed by a child or juvenile.
   • My parents want me to take a bath every day? Fine, I'm running away.
   • "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a...1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC
3. To become a runaway. (of a device or vehicle)
   • The train's brakes failed and it ran away.
   • An autotrim failure can cause stabiliser trim to rapidly run away in the nose-up or nose-down direction.