run out of

1. Exhaust a supply or quantity of, as in We're about to run out of coffee and sugar. This expression, dating from about 1700, can be used both literally and figuratively. Thus run out of gas may mean one no longer has any fuel, but it has also acquired the figurative sense of exhausting a supply of energy, enthusiasm, or support, and hence causing some activity to come to a halt. For example, After running ten laps I ran out of gas and had to rest to catch my breath, or The economic recovery seems to have run out of gas. On the other hand, run out of steam, originally alluding to a steam engine, today is used only figuratively to indicate a depletion of energy of any kind.

Example Sentences

Iamaleava’s refusal to slide or run out of bounds might have contributed to his concussion because he’s repeatedly taken big hits as a result of his fearlessness.

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Mr Nawat holds the licence to host this year's Miss Universe pageant, while the organisation is being run out of Mexico by businessman Raul Rocha.

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Just know that throughout the day booths may periodically run out of items, so be prepared to pivot.

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Then we run—out of the dock, past the memorial for the enslaved, through the recreational fields, and back to her house.

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One would have thought Penelope would have run out of tears by now, but she wept again with joy and grief and wonder, until she had soaked her own pocket handkerchief and several of her parents’, too.

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Related Words

• absorb 
• deplete 
• devour 
• dominate 
• drain 
• eat up 
• employ 
• exhaust 
• expend 
• obsess 
• preoccupy 
• spend 
• waste