What is "to run into the ground"

Run \Run\, v. t.

1. To cause to run (in the various senses of Run, v. i.); as, to run a horse; to run a stage; to run a machine; to run a rope through a block.

2. To pursue in thought; to carry in contemplation.

   To run the world back to its first original.
   --South.

   I would gladly understand the formation of a soul, and run it up to its ``punctum saliens.''
   --Collier.

3. To cause to enter; to thrust; as, to run a sword into or through the body; to run a nail into the foot.

   You run your head into the lion's mouth.
   --Sir W. Scott.

   Having run his fingers through his hair.
   --Dickens.

4. To drive or force; to cause, or permit, to be driven.

   They ran the ship aground.
   --Acts xxvii. 41.

   A talkative person runs himself upon great inconveniences by blabbing out his own or other's secrets.
   --Ray.

   Others, accustomed to retired speculations, run natural philosophy into metaphysical notions.
   --Locke.

5. To fuse; to shape; to mold; to cast; as, to run bullets, and the like.

   The purest gold must be run and washed.
   --Felton.

6. To cause to be drawn; to mark out; to indicate; to determine; as, to run a line.

7. To cause to pass, or evade, offical restrictions; to smuggle; -- said of contraband or dutiable goods.

   Heavy impositions . . . are a strong temptation of running goods.
   --Swift.

8. To go through or accomplish by running; as, to run a race; to run a certain career.

9. To cause to stand as a candidate for office; to support for office; as, to run some one for Congress. [Colloq. U.S.]

10. To encounter or incur, as a danger or risk; as, to run the risk of losing one's life. See To run the chances, below. ``He runneth two dangers.''
    --Bacon.

    If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
    --Dan Quail .

11. To put at hazard; to venture; to risk.

    He would himself be in the Highlands to receive them, and run his fortune with them.
    --Clarendon.

12. To discharge; to emit; to give forth copiously; to be bathed with; as, the pipe or faucet runs hot water.

    At the base of Pompey's statua, Which all the while ran blood, great C[ae]sar fell.
    --Shak.

13. To be charged with, or to contain much of, while flowing; as, the rivers ran blood.

14. To conduct; to manage; to carry on; as, to run a factory or a hotel. [Colloq. U.S.]

15. To tease with sarcasms and ridicule. [Colloq.]

16. To sew, as a seam, by passing the needle through material in a continuous line, generally taking a series of stitches on the needle at the same time.

17. To migrate or move in schools; -- said of fish; esp., to ascend a river in order to spawn.

18. (Golf) To strike (the ball) in such a way as to cause it to run along the ground, as when approaching a hole. To run a blockade, to get to, or away from, a blockaded port in safety. To run down.

    1. (Hunting) To chase till the object pursued is captured or exhausted; as, to run down a stag.

    2. (Naut.) To run against and sink, as a vessel.

    3. To crush; to overthrow; to overbear. ``Religion is run down by the license of these times.''
       --Berkeley.

    4. To disparage; to traduce. --F. W. Newman. To run hard.

       1. To press in competition; as, to run one hard in a race.

       2. To urge or press importunately.

       3. To banter severely.

          To run into the ground, to carry to an absurd extreme; to overdo. [Slang, U.S.] (c) To erect hastily, as a building.