“A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.[…]”1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
3
Rail transport, Railways, TransportOf a locomotive To move from one end of the consist to the other, so as to pull the train in the opposite direction.
4
Slang To cheat; to be unfaithful to a romantic partner.
5
Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports, Tennis To change one's position on the court to hit a forehand rather than a backhand, or vice versa.
Of a forehand or a backhand
He'd gotten into tremendous shape so that he could run around his backhand and avoid hitting it altogether. He even tried a left-handed forehand. That was how desperate he was.2006, Greg Moran, Tennis Beyond Big Shots, →ISBN, page 71:
6
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run, around.
Natrum sulp. is my specific for inflammations of the matrix of the nails or " run arounds."1893, The New England Medical Gazette - Volume 28, page 183:
The sketch shows the arrangement of run arounds for bringing the loaded trips into the bottom and for returning the empties to the proper quarter of the mine.1914, Mine and Quarry - Volumes 8-11, page 1176:
1 more example
The Committee contends : First, that the turn of Brakeuien W. R. Tighe and W. F. Haworth was run around at Baird by the crews of Conductors Schwartz, Russell, Hubbard, and Whaley and thereby lost 200 miles, or four 50-mile run arounds.1937, United States. National Railroad Adjustment Board, Awards: first division. 1- - Volume 7, page 504:
2
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run, around.
We let the dog off the lead so it could have a run around.
run-around
noun
Etymology Deverbal from run around.
1
Alternative Alternative form of runaround.
The Board points to Driver Supervisor Wade Seal's testimony that a dispatcher was not doing his job right when he deliberately ran around a driver (Tr. 1414(2)) and the portion of Booe's testimony where Booe obviously wished to avoid stating that the company had a policy of permitting deliberate run-arounds.1977, The Federal Reporter, page 211:
Use run-arounds to fill the white space around irrigularly shared artwork.2013, A.E. Cawkell, Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Information Technology and Systems:
1 more example
They like phone calls but resent telephone run-arounds and response delays.2013, Natalie Canavor, Business Writing For Dummies, →ISBN, page 26:
2
Synonym of runabout.
We have big people-carrier, and also a little run-around for popping to the shops.
The car had captured his attention even then, as It had seemed so out of place in a street full of Peugeots, and Renaults, and six-seater Fiat run-arounds.2010, Mario Reading -, The Mayan Codex, →ISBN:
2 more examples
She followed him to his fancy car, incongruous between the battered, old run-arounds on either side, and made another inarticulate noise as he beeped it open.2014, Cathy Williams, A Tempestuous Temptation, →ISBN:
We got a shockingly low price for it and bought a small tin-can run-around.2016, Liz Nugent, Lying In Wait, →ISBN, page 134: