Word.ws English Dictionary

run like a dry creek

run like a dry creek verb: to run for political office with little chance of success.

Verb

run like a dry creek (third-person singular simple present runs like a dry creek, present participle running like a dry creek, simple past ran like a dry creek, past participle run like a dry creek)

  1. (US, colloquial, simile) To run for political office with little chance of success.
    • The Scripps-Howard newspapers, which are supporting Eisenhower, criticized Ike for "running like a dry creek."1952, LIFE, volume 33, number 10, page 49
    • The last of the six candidates, Stephen Dorrell, did not even get off the starting-blocks. His campaign ran like a dry creek from day one.1997, New Statesman, page 18
  2. (US, colloquial, simile) To run (in various senses) badly or not at all.
    • Carlyle had a brief trial in the big leagues with the Red Sox and the Yankees. But he ran like a dry creek and was weak of arm.1956, American Mercury, volume 83, number 390, page 153
    • The League knew little about lobbving and its cash flow ran like a dry creek. Small and big business were against a consumer cooperative bank bill.1985, Jay Richter, Where credit was due: the creation of the National Consumer Cooperative Bank, page 24

Forms of run like a dry creek

third-person singular presentruns like a dry creek
present participlerunning like a dry creek
pastran like a dry creek
past participlerun like a dry creek

Origin of run like a dry creek

A pun on two senses of run: to flow (as in "running water") and to stand for election.

Questions about run like a dry creek

What does run like a dry creek mean?
Run like a dry creek means to run for political office with little chance of success.
What part of speech is run like a dry creek?
Run like a dry creek is a verb.
What is the past tense of run like a dry creek?
The past tense of run like a dry creek is ran like a dry creek.

Words near run like a dry creek in the dictionary

  1. run into the ground
  2. run it up
  3. run it up the flagpole, to see who salutes
  4. run its course
  5. run late
  6. run like a dry creek
  7. run like a top
  8. run lines
  9. run low
  10. run mad
  11. run nowhere

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: run like a dry creek (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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