run down phrasal verb ( see also ↑ run )
1 . run somebody/something ↔ down to drive into a person or animal and kill or injure them:
Their daughter was run down by a car.
2 . run somebody/something ↔ down informal to criticize someone or something in a way that is unfair:
There’s a lot of good things about homeopathic treatment. I’m certainly not running it down.
3 . if a clock, machine, ↑ battery etc runs down, it has no more power and stops working
4 . to make a company, organization etc gradually reduce in size, especially in order to close it in the future, or to gradually reduce in size
run something ↔ down
Many smaller local hospitals are being run down.
The business had been running down for a long time.
5 . if a supply of something runs down, or if you run it down, there gradually becomes less of it:
Crude oil reserves are running down.
run something ↔ down
Electricity generating companies are running down stocks and cutting purchases.
6 . run down something to read a list of people or things:
Let me just run down the list of people who’ve been invited.
7 . run somebody/something down to find someone or something after searching for a long time:
I finally ran him down at his new office in Glendale.
⇨ ↑ rundown , ↑ run-down