What is "to run riot"

Riot \Ri"ot\, n. [OF. riote, of uncertain origin; cf. OD. revot, ravot.]

1. Wanton or unrestrained behavior; uproar; tumult.

   His headstrong riot hath no curb.
   --Shak.

2. Excessive and exxpensive feasting; wild and loose festivity; revelry.

   Venus loveth riot and dispense.
   --Chaucer.

   The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day.
   --Pope.

3. (Law) The tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by an unlawful assembly of three or more persons in the execution of some private object.

   To run riot, to act wantonly or without restraint.

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.