What is "to run after"

Run \Run\, v. i. [imp. Ranor Run; p. p. Run; p. pr. & vb. n. Running.] [OE. rinnen, rennen (imp. ran, p. p. runnen, ronnen). AS. rinnan to flow (imp. ran, p. p. gerunnen), and iernan, irnan, to run (imp. orn, arn, earn, p. p. urnen); akin to D. runnen, rennen, OS. & OHG. rinnan, G. rinnen, rennen, Icel. renna, rinna, Sw. rinna, r["a]nna, Dan. rinde, rende, Goth. rinnan, and perh. to L. oriri to rise, Gr. ? to stir up, rouse, Skr. ? (cf. Origin), or perh. to L. rivus brook (cf. Rival). [root]1

1. Cf. Ember, a., Rennet.] 1. To move, proceed, advance, pass, go, come, etc., swiftly, smoothly, or with quick action; -- said of things animate or inanimate. Hence, to flow, glide, or roll onward, as a stream, a snake, a wagon, etc.; to move by quicker action than in walking, as a person, a horse, a dog. Specifically:

2. Of voluntary or personal action:

   1. To go swiftly; to pass at a swift pace; to hasten.

      ``Ha, ha, the fox!'' and after him they ran.
      --Chaucer.

   2. To flee, as from fear or danger.

      As from a bear a man would run for life.
      --Shak.

   3. To steal off; to depart secretly.

   4. To contend in a race; hence, to enter into a contest; to become a candidate; as, to run for Congress.

      Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
      --1 Cor. ix. 24.

   5. To pass from one state or condition to another; to come into a certain condition; -- often with in or into; as, to run into evil practices; to run in debt.

      Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast, to rend my heart with grief and run distracted?
      --Addison.

   6. To exert continuous activity; to proceed; as, to run through life; to run in a circle.

   7. To pass or go quickly in thought or conversation; as, to run from one subject to another.

      Virgil, in his first Georgic, has run into a set of precepts foreign to his subject.
      --Addison.

   8. To discuss; to continue to think or speak about something; -- with on.

   9. To make numerous drafts or demands for payment, as upon a bank; -- with on.

   10. To creep, as serpents.

3. Of involuntary motion:

   1. To flow, as a liquid; to ascend or descend; to course; as, rivers run to the sea; sap runs up in the spring; her blood ran cold.

   2. To proceed along a surface; to extend; to spread.

      The fire ran along upon the ground.
      --Ex. ix. 23.

   3. To become fluid; to melt; to fuse.

      As wax dissolves, as ice begins to run.
      --Addison.

      Sussex iron ores run freely in the fire.
      --Woodward.

   4. To turn, as a wheel; to revolve on an axis or pivot; as, a wheel runs swiftly round.

   5. To travel; to make progress; to be moved by mechanical means; to go; as, the steamboat runs regularly to Albany; the train runs to Chicago.

   6. To extend; to reach; as, the road runs from Philadelphia to New York; the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.

      She saw with joy the line immortal run, Each sire impressed, and glaring in his son.
      --Pope.

   7. To go back and forth from place to place; to ply; as, the stage runs between the hotel and the station.

   8. To make progress; to proceed; to pass.

      As fast as our time runs, we should be very glad in most part of our lives that it ran much faster.
      --Addison.

   9. To continue in operation; to be kept in action or motion; as, this engine runs night and day; the mill runs six days in the week.

      When we desire anything, our minds run wholly on the good circumstances of it; when it is obtained, our minds run wholly on the bad ones.
      --Swift.

   10. To have a course or direction; as, a line runs east and west.

       Where the generally allowed practice runs counter to it.
       --Locke.

       Little is the wisdom, where the flight So runs against all reason.
       --Shak.

   11. To be in form thus, as a combination of words.

       The king's ordinary style runneth, ``Our sovereign lord the king.''
       --Bp. Sanderson.

   12. To be popularly known; to be generally received.

       Men gave them their own names, by which they run a great while in Rome.
       --Sir W. Temple.

       Neither was he ignorant what report ran of himself.
       --Knolles.

   13. To have growth or development; as, boys and girls run up rapidly.

       If the richness of the ground cause turnips to run to leaves.
       --Mortimer.

   14. To tend, as to an effect or consequence; to incline.

       A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds.
       --Bacon.

       Temperate climates run into moderate governments.
       --Swift.

   15. To spread and blend together; to unite; as, colors run in washing.

       In the middle of a rainbow the colors are . . . distinguished, but near the borders they run into one another.
       --I. Watts.

   16. To have a legal course; to be attached; to continue in force, effect, or operation; to follow; to go in company; as, certain covenants run with the land.

       Customs run only upon our goods imported or exported, and that but once for all; whereas interest runs as well upon our ships as goods, and must be yearly paid.
       --Sir J. Child.

   17. To continue without falling due; to hold good; as, a note has thirty days to run.

   18. To discharge pus or other matter; as, an ulcer runs.

   19. To be played on the stage a number of successive days or nights; as, the piece ran for six months.

   20. (Naut.) To sail before the wind, in distinction from reaching or sailing closehauled; -- said of vessels.

4. Specifically, of a horse: To move rapidly in a gait in which each leg acts in turn as a propeller and a supporter, and in which for an instant all the limbs are gathered in the air under the body.
   --Stillman (The Horse in Motion).

5. (Athletics) To move rapidly by springing steps so that there is an instant in each step when neither foot touches the ground; -- so distinguished from walking in athletic competition. As things run, according to the usual order, conditions, quality, etc.; on the average; without selection or specification. To let run (Naut.), to allow to pass or move freely; to slacken or loosen. To run after, to pursue or follow; to search for; to endeavor to find or obtain; as, to run after similes. --Locke. To run away, to flee; to escape; to elope; to run without control or guidance. To run away with.

   1. To convey away hurriedly; to accompany in escape or elopement.

   2. To drag rapidly and with violence; as, a horse runs away with a carriage. To run down.

      1. To cease to work or operate on account of the exhaustion of the motive power; -- said of clocks, watches, etc.

      2. To decline in condition; as, to run down in health. To run down a coast, to sail along it. To run for an office, to stand as a candidate for an office. To run in or To run into.

         1. To enter; to step in.

         2. To come in collision with. To run into To meet, by chance; as, I ran into my brother at the grocery store. To run in trust, to run in debt; to get credit. [Obs.] To run in with.

            1. To close; to comply; to agree with. [R.]
               --T. Baker.

            2. (Naut.) To make toward; to near; to sail close to; as, to run in with the land. To run mad, To run mad after or To run mad on. See under Mad. To run on.

               1. To be continued; as, their accounts had run on for a year or two without a settlement.

               2. To talk incessantly.

   3. To continue a course.

   4. To press with jokes or ridicule; to abuse with sarcasm; to bear hard on.

   5. (Print.) To be continued in the same lines, without making a break or beginning a new paragraph. To run out.

      1. To come to an end; to expire; as, the lease runs out at Michaelmas.

      2. To extend; to spread. ``Insectile animals . . . run all out into legs.''
         --Hammond.

      3. To expatiate; as, to run out into beautiful digressions.

      4. To be wasted or exhausted; to become poor; to become extinct; as, an estate managed without economy will soon run out. And had her stock been less, no doubt She must have long ago run out. --Dryden. To run over.

         1. To overflow; as, a cup runs over, or the liquor runs over.

         2. To go over, examine, or rehearse cursorily.

         3. To ride or drive over; as, to run over a child. To run riot, to go to excess. To run through.

            1. To go through hastily; as to run through a book.

            2. To spend wastefully; as, to run through an estate. To run to seed, to expend or exhaust vitality in producing seed, as a plant; figuratively and colloquially, to cease growing; to lose vital force, as the body or mind. To run up, to rise; to swell; to grow; to increase; as, accounts of goods credited run up very fast. But these, having been untrimmed for many years, had run up into great bushes, or rather dwarf trees. --Sir W. Scott. To run with.

               1. To be drenched with, so that streams flow; as, the streets ran with blood.

               2. To flow while charged with some foreign substance. ``Its rivers ran with gold.''
                  --J. H. Newman.