running

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌnɪŋ/

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• Rhymes: -ʌnɪŋ

running

1. Present participle of run.

running (not comparable)

1. Moving or advancing at a run.
   1. Of a horse, having a running gait; not a trotter or pacer.
2. Present, current.

   running month

3. Flowing; easy; cursive.

   running handwriting

4. Continuous; ongoing; keeping along step by step.

   a running commentary, a running explanation

   • 1778, John Hamilton Moore, A New and Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels:

     Thus a constant running fire was kept up, and no interval allowed for the enemy to stand to their guns in safety […]

   • 1670, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , OCLC 946735472:

     a running conquest

   • 1826, Julius Hare, Guesses at Truth by Two Brothers

     What are art and science if not a running commentary on Nature?

5. Having a continuous design or pattern.

   running bond; running ornament

6. Consecutive (much more commonly expressed by an adverb; see below).

   He won the title for three running years.

7. (botany) Extending by a slender climbing or trailing stem.

   a running vine

8. (medicine) Discharging pus.

   a running sore

9. (medicine, of a nose) Discharging snot or mucus.

   Synonym: runny

   a running nose

running (not comparable)

1. (informal) Consecutively; in a row.

   Mom's strawberry jam won the blue ribbon at the Holland County Fair three years running.

running (countable and uncountable, plural runnings)

1. The action of the verb to run.

   His running of the business leaves something to be desired.

   • 2022 January 12, “Network News: Trading of Go-Ahead Group shares halted”, in RAIL, number 948, page 7:

     The train operating company owning group warned in early December that it was unable to publish its results for the year to July 3 2021, following an investigation into the running of Southeastern, which was stripped of its franchise in October [...].

2. The activity of running as a form of exercise, as a sport, or for any other reason.

   Running is good exercise.

3. That which runs or flows; the quantity of a liquid which flows in a certain time or during a certain operation.

   the first running of a still

4. The discharge from an ulcer or other sore.
5. (colloquial) The act of running errands.

   I'm gonna go out and do my running.

• free running, freerunning

running

1. (colloquial) Approaching; about; roughly. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

• “running”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

running m (uncountable)

1. running, jogging