run \run\, n.
   1. the act of running; as, a long run; a good run; a quick
      run; to go on the run.
      1913 webster

   2. a small stream; a brook; a creek.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster

   4. a course; a series; that which continues in a certain
      course or series; as, a run of good or bad luck.
      1913 webster

            they who made their arrangements in the first run of
            misadventure . . . put a seal on their calamities.
                                                  --burke.
      1913 webster

   5. state of being current; currency; popularity.
      1913 webster

            it is impossible for detached papers to have a
            general run, or long continuance, if not diversified
            with humor.                           --addison.
      1913 webster

   6. continued repetition on the stage; -- said of a play; as,
      to have a run of a hundred successive nights.
      1913 webster

            a canting, mawkish play . . . had an immense run.
                                                  --macaulay.
      1913 webster

   7. a continuing urgent demand; especially, a pressure on a
      bank or treasury for payment of its notes.
      1913 webster

   8. a range or extent of ground for feeding stock; as, a sheep
      run. --howitt.
      1913 webster

   9. naut.
      a the aftermost part of a vessel's hull where it narrows
          toward the stern, under the quarter.
      b the distance sailed by a ship; as, a good run; a run
          of fifty miles.
      c a voyage; as, a run to china.
          1913 webster

   10. a pleasure excursion; a trip. colloq.
       1913 webster

             i think of giving her a run in london. --dickens.
       1913 webster

   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.
       1913 webster

   12. mus. a roulade, or series of running tones.
       1913 webster

   13. mil. the greatest degree of swiftness in marching. it
       is executed upon the same principles as the double-quick,
       but with greater speed.
       1913 webster

   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.
       1913 webster

   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.
       1913 webster +pjc

             the "runs" are made from wicket to wicket, the
             batsmen interchanging ends at each run. --r. a.
                                                  proctor.
       1913 webster

   16. a pair or set of millstones.
       1913 webster

   17. piquet, cribbage, etc. a number of cards of the same
       suit in sequence; as, a run of four in hearts.
       webster 1913 suppl.

   18. golf
       a the movement communicated to a golf ball by running.
       b the distance a ball travels after touching the ground
           from a stroke.
           webster 1913 suppl.

   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.
      1913 webster

            man starts the inferior of the brute animals, but
            he surpasses them in the long run.    --j. h.
                                                  newman.
      1913 webster

   home run.
       a a running or returning toward home, or to the point
           from which the start was made. cf. home stretch.
       b 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.
      1913 webster +pjc

            i saw nothing else that is superior to the common
            run of parks.                         --walpole.
      1913 webster

            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.
      1913 webster

            his whole appearance was something out of the common
            run.                                  --w. irving.
      1913 webster

   to let go by the run naut., to loosen and let run freely,
      as lines; to let fall without restraint, as a sail.
      1913 webster
see also:
at the long run in the long run home run home stretch home the run 
the common run the run of the mill to let go by the run