run down

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To hit someone with a car or other vehicle and injure or kill them.
   • He was run down while crossing the main road.
   • '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. (transitive) To criticize someone or an organisation, often unfairly.
   • Whatever the company says, the media is going to run them down.
   • My sister is always running me down in front of my friends.
3. (transitive) To 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. (intransitive, transitive) To 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.
   • If you don't switch off the car lights, you will run the battery down.
5. (transitive) To read quickly a list or other short text.
   • Running down the list of suggestions, I can see three we can discard immediately.
6. (transitive) To 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. (UK, transitive) To 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.
   • Before you move, you should run down your food supplies in the fridge, freezer, and pantry to use up as much as possible.
8. To decline in quality or condition.
   • to run down in health
   • 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. To chase till the object pursued is captured or exhausted.
   • to run down a stag
10. (transitive) To run against and sink, as a vessel.
    • 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
    • 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
11. (transitive) To 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. (slang, transitive, African-American Vernacular) To approach (someone, thing or place) aggressively, as to attack.
    • He ran down on Rashad and them.
13. (transitive) To 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.