running room

Noun

running room (uncountable)

1. Freedom; flexibility; options.
   • You know that letter-writing is a punishment for me, often a very harsh one. My pen knows not how to flow, and easily becomes petrified. I absolutely must have the stimulus of viva voce talk for my modest wits to have running room.1979 [1874 June 24], Franz Liszt, translated by William R. Tyler, [Letter], quoted in The Letters of Franz Liszt to Olga von Meyendorff, […] , Washington, DC: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 145
   • [quoting John Fossum:] "[…] Managers with small pay pool budgets still have running room to distribute performance bonusses."1984, Tierney Bates, “Managing a Cast of Thousands—Merit Pay Employees”, in David A. Turner, editor, Management, volume 4, number 3, Washington, DC, →ISSN, page 25