intransitive verb
: to grow rapidly : shoot up
his debts ran up alarmingly by the week
transitive verb
1. : to increase by bidding : bid up
professional traders had run the price up
2. : to stitch quickly
to run up a seam
to run up a dress in a morning
3. : to erect hastily
run up an apartment house
run up a circus tent
4. : to add (a column of figures) rapidly
5. : to shuffle (the pack) so that certain combinations of cards shall come out in desired order
6. : to operate (an aircraft engine) at a high rate of speed either in a stationary aircraft or on a test stand in order to test, check, or warm the engine