English

Verb

run around ‎(third-person singular simple present runs around, present participle running around, simple past ran around, past participle run around)

1. Used other than as an idiom: see run,‎ around.
2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To be very busy doing many different things.

   I don't want to run around all week getting everything ready for the holidays.‎

3. (idiomatic, intransitive) To go from place to place.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     “A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. […]”

4. (rail transport, of a locomotive) To move from one end of the consist to the other, so as to pull the train in the opposite direction.
5. (slang) To cheat; to be unfaithful to a romantic partner.
6. (tennis, of a forehand or a backhand) To change one's position on the court to hit a forehand rather than a backhand, or visa-versa.
   • 2006, Greg Moran, Tennis Beyond Big Shots, page 71, ISBN 1932421041

     He'd gotten into tremendous shape so that he could run around his backhand and avoid hitting it altogether. He even tried a left-handed forehand. That was how desperate he was.

Synonyms

• (?): run about

Derived terms

• runaround

Translations