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runner

[ruhn-er]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR runner ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

a messenger.

a messenger of a bank or brokerage house.

Baseball. base runner.

Football. the ball-carrier.

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

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

something in or on which something else runs or moves.

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

the blade of an ice skate.

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

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

a roller on which something moves along.

Furniture.

a sliding piece, as a loper.
rocker(def 1).

an operator or manager, as of a machine.

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

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

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.

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

a smuggler.

a vessel engaged in smuggling.

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

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

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

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

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

Origin of runner

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for runner

racer, entrant, contestant, sprinter, marathoner, carrier, messenger, courier, jogger, offshoot, tendril, branch, page, harrier, trackman

Examples from the Web for runner

Contemporary Examples of runner

One runner in Houston now has a permanent, hoof-shaped scar in the center of his forehead.
Chicago’s Running of the Bulls
Hampton Stevens
July 26, 2014
Some, like Smart Socks, measure strike speed and heel placement for runner trying to get that next PR.
Fitness Tracker 101: Everything You Need to Know About Your New Gadget
Megan Humphreys
December 27, 2013
The winner of the first marathon (OK, he was the only runner, but still) died from the effort.
Maybe You Shouldn't Run a Marathon
Kent Sepkowitz
November 3, 2013
Zachary wound up, eyed the runner, then uncorked a sizzling fastball.
Babe Ruth’s Summer of Records
Bill Bryson
September 29, 2013
Rick Santorum, the runner up to Mitt Romney in 2012, was at CPAC likely hoping to continue that tradition.
What Do We Know About 2016 After the CPAC Straw Poll?
Ben Jacobs
March 16, 2013

Historical Examples of runner

But they saw that the sea was for the swimmer, and the sand for the feet of the runner.
De Profundis
Oscar Wilde
I told you that I knew the Bow Street runner who was in the barouche.
Night and Morning, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
In the south, too, hoop iron or whalebone is used for runner shoeing.
The Long Labrador Trail
Dillon Wallace
The victors sent the runner Pheidippides to bear the news to Athens.
Introductory American History
Henry Eldridge Bourne
One eye applied to a crack scanned the runner, who stood there alert.
The Plunderer
Roy Norton

British Dictionary definitions for runner

runner

noun

a person who runs, esp an athlete

a messenger for a bank or brokerage firm

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

a person engaged in the solicitation of business

a person on the run; fugitive

a person or vessel engaged in smuggling; smuggler
(in combination)a rum-runner

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

a roller or guide for a sliding component

a channel through which molten material enters a casting or moulding

the rotating element of a water turbine

another name for running belay

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

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

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

a narrow rug or carpet, as for a passage

another word for rocker (def. 3)

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

Word Origin and History for runner

n.

c.1300, "messenger on foot," agent noun from run (v.). Meaning "one who runs" is early 14c. Meaning "smuggler" first recorded 1721; sense of "police officer" is from 1771. Meaning "rooting stem of a plant" is from 1660s; that of "embroidered cloth for a table" is from 1888.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

runner in Science

runner

[rŭn′ər]

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.