run off

British  

verb

1. (intr) to depart in haste

2. (tr) to produce quickly, as copies on a duplicating machine

3. to drain (liquid) or (of liquid) to be drained

4. (tr) to decide (a race) by a runoff

5. (tr) to get rid of (weight, etc) by running

6. (intr) (of a flow of liquid) to begin to dry up; cease to run

7. 1. to steal; purloin

   2. to elope with

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noun

1. 1. an extra race to decide the winner after a tie

   2. a contest or election held after a previous one has failed to produce a clear victory for any one person

2. that portion of rainfall that runs into streams as surface water rather than being absorbed into ground water or evaporating

3. the overflow of a liquid from a container

4. grazing land for store cattle

run off Idioms  

1. Escape; see run away , def. 2.

2. Flow off, drain, as in By noon all the water had run off the driveway . [Early 1700s]

3. Print, duplicate, or copy, as in We ran off 200 copies of the budget . [Late 1800s]

4. Decide a contest or competition, as in The last two events will be run off on Tuesday . [Late 1800s]

5. Also, run someone out . Force or drive someone away, as in The security guard ran off the trespassers , or They ran him out of town . [Early 1700s]

6. Produce or perform quickly and easily, as in After years of practice, he could run off a sermon in a couple of hours . [Late 1600s]

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Example Sentences

Then Murphy hit a home run off Pence’s replacement, Thomas Padilla, to tie the score.

From Los Angeles Times

Many dogs are microchipped so they can be identified more easily if they run off or get lost.

From The Wall Street Journal

If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two finishers will proceed to a November run off.

From Los Angeles Times

“The last time that we had run off this early was in 2015.”

From Los Angeles Times

A SoCal hiker said she thankfully remembered what to do when she encountered the puma — yelling, facing the cat, trying to look big — until it ran off.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• avoid
• depart
• disappear
• dodge
• elude
• emerge
• evade
• flee
• fly
• leave
• run
• slip
• slip away
• vanish