runner

[ ruhn-er ]
See synonyms for: runnerrunners on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a person, animal, or thing that runs, especially as a racer.

  2. a messenger.

  1. a messenger of a bank or brokerage house.

  2. Baseball. base runner.

  3. Football. the ball-carrier.

  4. a person whose business it is to solicit patronage or trade.

  5. a person acting as collector, agent, or the like, for a bank, broker, etc.

  6. something in or on which something else runs or moves.

  7. either of the long, bladelike strips of metal or wood on which a sled or sleigh slides.

  8. the blade of an ice skate.

  9. the rotating system of blades driven by the fluid passing through a reaction turbine.

  10. the rotating member of a pair of millstones.: Compare bed stone.

  11. a roller on which something moves along.

  12. Furniture.

  13. an operator or manager, as of a machine.

  14. a long, narrow rug, suitable for a hall or passageway.

  15. a long, narrow strip of line, embroidery, lace, or the like, placed across a table.

  16. Botany.

    • a slender stolon that runs along the surface of the ground and sends out roots and leaves at the nodes, as in the strawberry.

    • a plant that spreads by such stems.

  17. Metallurgy. any of the channels through which molten metal flows.

  18. a smuggler.

  19. a vessel engaged in smuggling.

  20. a person who takes, transmits, and often pays off bets for a bookmaker or a numbers pool.

  21. Ichthyology. a jurel, Caranx crysos, inhabiting waters from Cape Cod to Brazil.

  22. Building Trades. a horizontal longitudinal timber resting upon the uprights of a staging and supporting the footing pieces.

  23. Theater. a piece of carpet or matting placed in the wings for deadening offstage sounds.

  24. a tackle or part of a tackle consisting of a line rove through a single block and fixed at one end.

Origin of runner

1
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at run, -er1

Words Nearby runner

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use runner in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for runner

runner

/ (ˈrʌnə) /


noun
  1. a person who runs, esp an athlete

  2. a messenger for a bank or brokerage firm

  1. an employee of an art or antique dealer who visits auctions to bid on desired lots

  2. a person engaged in the solicitation of business

  3. a person on the run; fugitive

    • a person or vessel engaged in smuggling; smuggler

    • (in combination): a rum-runner

  4. a person who operates, manages, or controls something

    • either of the strips of metal or wood on which a sledge runs

    • the blade of an ice skate

  5. a roller or guide for a sliding component

  6. a channel through which molten material enters a casting or moulding

  7. the rotating element of a water turbine

  8. another name for running belay

  9. any of various carangid fishes of temperate and tropical seas, such as Caranx crysos (blue runner) of American Atlantic waters

  10. botany

    • a slender stem with very long internodes, as of the strawberry, that arches down to the ground and propagates by producing roots and shoots at the nodes or tip

    • a plant that propagates in this way

  11. a strip of lace, linen, etc, placed across a table, dressing table, etc for protection and decoration

  12. a narrow rug or carpet, as for a passage

  13. another word for rocker (def. 3)

  14. do a runner slang to run away in order to escape trouble or to avoid paying for something

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for runner

runner

[ rŭnər ]


  1. A slender stem that grows horizontally and puts down roots to form new plants. Strawberries spread by runners. Also called stolon Compare bulb corm rhizome tuber.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.