run an errand

Idioms

Go to perform a commission, as in I spent the morning running household errands—to the cleaners, the supermarket, the hardware store. [c. 1500]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Elizabeth Alvarez has been searching for her brother since 2013, when the 31-year-old left his home to run an errand in Mexico City.

From Barron's

Ray Lucas and his girlfriend, ShiAnn Brown, went to run an errand at a corner gas station on July 17, and when they came back 15 minutes later, their house was on fire, according to Fox 2 Detroit.

From Fox News

Another email showed that a staffer left the office last January to "run an errand for Mrs. Lamborn."

From Salon

“And to run an errand, you need to have a fortune.”

From Reuters

He would run an errand and couldn’t find his way home.

From Washington Post

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023