run up meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

run up

verbalso spelled run-up

14 senses

1To run (towards someone or something); to hasten to a…
2To approach (an event or point in time).
3To take to a destination or before an authority.
4To erect hastily, as a building.
5To make something, usually an item of clothing, very quickly.
6To bring (a flag) to the top of its flag pole.
7To string up; to hang.
8Of a bowler, to run, or walk up to the bowling crease in…
9To rise; to swell; to grow; to increase.
10To accumulate (a debt).
11To thrust up, as anything long and slender.
12To warm up and test an airplane before a flight.
13To accumulate money, drugs, etc.
14Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run, up.

To run (towards someone or something); to hasten to a destination.

As I was walking along the road, a man suddenly ran up to me.
The dog ran up under the table to get his food.

With to To approach (an event or point in time).

We are putting on lots of special attractions as we run up to Christmas.

To take to a destination or before an authority.

[…] and I took him along and ran him up to police headquarters.1924, Michigan. Supreme Court, Michigan Reports, volume 226, page 46:

Dated To erect hastily, as a building.

we wait until the palace is half-way up, and then we pay some tasty architect to run us up an ornamental mud hovel, right against it1840 February, Edgar Allan Poe, “Peter Pendulum, the Business Man”, in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, volume 6, number 2, page 87:

Idiomatic To make something, usually an item of clothing, very quickly.

I'll run you up a skirt for tomorrow evening.

Idiomatic To bring (a flag) to the top of its flag pole.

Stand quietly while the honor guard runs the flag up.

To string up; to hang.

Ball games, Cricket, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Of a bowler, to run, or walk up to the bowling crease in order to bowl a ball.

He runs up... and bowls. Smashed away for four runs!

To rise; to swell; to grow; to increase.

Accounts of goods credited run up very fast.
But these, having been untrimmed for many years, had run up into great bushes, or rather dwarf trees.1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:

1 more example

Google Glitch May Run Up Phone Bills [title]2009 February 6, Roy Furchgott, “Google Glitch May Run Up Phone Bills”, in New York Times:

Idiomatic To accumulate (a debt).

He ran up over $5,000 in unpaid bills.

To thrust up, as anything long and slender.

The fence runs up along the edge of the pasture.

Aeronautics, Aerospace, Aviation, Business, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences To warm up and test an airplane before a flight.

Slang, Sometimes To accumulate money, drugs, etc.

African-American Vernacular

I run me up some big bills.

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run, up.

The small boy ran up the hill.

run-up

noun

Etymology Deverbal from run up.

Ball games, Cricket, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports The approach run of a bowler before delivering the ball.

Jasprit Bumrah has the most unique run-up in the history of cricket.

The approach run of a high jumper or other athlete in order to gather speed or momentum.

But he still saw his side produce a rousing display which owed much to their lauded prowess from set-pieces, despite Uefa regulations meaning the pitch had to be widened and, in the process, the run-up area for Delap's long throws reduced.2011 September 29, Tom Rostance, “Stoke 2 - 1 Besiktas”, in BBC Sport:

A period of time just before an important event.

The candidates were very nervous in the run-up to the election.
Politicians on TikTok will no longer be able to use the app tipping tools, nor access advertising features on the social network, as the company tightens its policies around political issues in the run-up to the US midterm elections in six weeks’ time.2022 September 21, Alex Hern, “TikTok tightens policies around political issues in run-up to US midterms”, in The Guardian:

1 more example

Further trials and commissioning of the newly laid track will take place in the run-up to the launch of passenger services in June.2023 April 19, “Network News: First tram on Wolverhampton extension”, in RAIL, number 981, page 12, image caption:

An increase in the value or amount of something.

Economists expect a run-up of long-term interest rates.
A Price Run-Up for Run-Down Communes [title]2006 December 22, Andrew E. Kramer, “A Price Run-Up for Run-Down Communes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Geography, Natural sciences, Oceanography The extent of a wave's reach onto land as the result of a tsunami or storm such as a cyclone.

I found sand pushed all the way to the edge of my home by the run-up of Wednesday's tsunami.
Historical records of tsunamis in this region are available for the last 400 years, and the run-up heights of historical tsunamis at Koyadori were estimated and measured"2019, Daisuke Ishimura, Keitaro Yamada, “Palaeo-tsunami inundation distances deduced from roundness of gravel particles in tsunami deposits”, in Scientific Reports, volume 9, →DOI, page 2:

Aeronautics, Aerospace, Aviation, Business, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences The process of warming up and testing an airplane before a flight.

Related terms: lead-up