- used after a number and a noun such as ‘year’ ‘day’ or ‘time’, to say that something has happened in the same way several times, without a change
- She's won the championship three years running.
- It was the third day running that the train had been late.
- No party has won an election four times running.
- running water is water that is flowing somewhere or water that is supplied to a building and available to be used through taps
- I can hear the sound of running water.
- a remote cottage without electricity or running water
- [only before noun] lasting a long time; continuous synonym ongoing
- For years he had fought a running battle with the authorities over the land.
- a running argument
- His old raincoat became a running joke (= people kept laughing at it).
- -running(in compounds) running or flowing in the way mentioned
- a fast-running river
- They showed the free-running, slick football that has become their trademark.
Idioms
See running in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryin running/working order
- (especially of machines) working well
- The engine is now in perfect running order.
(go and) take a running jump
- (old-fashioned, informal) used to tell somebody in a rude way to go away
- Why didn’t you just tell him to take a running jump?
Check pronunciation:
running