What is "at the long run"

Run \Run\, n.

1. The act of running; as, a long run; a good run; a quick run; to go on the run.

2. A small stream; a brook; a creek.

3. That which runs or flows in the course of a certain operation, or during a certain time; as, a run of must in wine making; the first run of sap in a maple orchard.

4. A course; a series; that which continues in a certain course or series; as, a run of good or bad luck.

   They who made their arrangements in the first run of misadventure . . . put a seal on their calamities.
   --Burke.

5. State of being current; currency; popularity.

   It is impossible for detached papers to have a general run, or long continuance, if not diversified with humor.
   --Addison.

6. Continued repetition on the stage; -- said of a play; as, to have a run of a hundred successive nights.

   A canting, mawkish play . . . had an immense run.
   --Macaulay.

7. A continuing urgent demand; especially, a pressure on a bank or treasury for payment of its notes.

8. A range or extent of ground for feeding stock; as, a sheep run.
   --Howitt.

9. (Naut.)

   1. The aftermost part of a vessel's hull where it narrows toward the stern, under the quarter.

   2. The distance sailed by a ship; as, a good run; a run of fifty miles.

   3. A voyage; as, a run to China.

10. A pleasure excursion; a trip. [Colloq.]

    I think of giving her a run in London.
    --Dickens.

11. (Mining) The horizontal distance to which a drift may be carried, either by license of the proprietor of a mine or by the nature of the formation; also, the direction which a vein of ore or other substance takes.

12. (Mus.) A roulade, or series of running tones.

13. (Mil.) The greatest degree of swiftness in marching. It is executed upon the same principles as the double-quick, but with greater speed.

14. The act of migrating, or ascending a river to spawn; -- said of fish; also, an assemblage or school of fishes which migrate, or ascend a river for the purpose of spawning.

15. (Sport) In baseball, a complete circuit of the bases made by a player, which enables him to score one point; also, the point thus scored; in cricket, a passing from one wicket to the other, by which one point is scored; as, a player made three runs; the side went out with two hundred runs; the Yankees scored three runs in the seventh inning.

    The ``runs'' are made from wicket to wicket, the batsmen interchanging ends at each run.
    --R. A. Proctor.

16. A pair or set of millstones.

17. (Piquet, Cribbage, etc.) A number of cards of the same suit in sequence; as, a run of four in hearts.

18. (Golf)

    1. The movement communicated to a golf ball by running.

    2. The distance a ball travels after touching the ground from a stroke. At the long run, now, commonly, In the long run, in or during the whole process or course of things taken together; in the final result; in the end; finally. [Man] starts the inferior of the brute animals, but he surpasses them in the long run. --J. H. Newman. Home run.

       1. A running or returning toward home, or to the point from which the start was made. Cf. Home stretch.

       2. (Baseball) See under Home.

          The run, or The common run, or The run of the mill etc., ordinary persons; the generality or average of people or things; also, that which ordinarily occurs; ordinary current, course, or kind.

          I saw nothing else that is superior to the common run of parks.
          --Walpole.

          Burns never dreamed of looking down on others as beneath him, merely because he was conscious of his own vast superiority to the common run of men.
          --Prof. Wilson.

          His whole appearance was something out of the common run.
          --W. Irving.

          To let go by the run (Naut.), to loosen and let run freely, as lines; to let fall without restraint, as a sail.