ˈrənə(r) noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English rinner, renner, from rinnen, rennen to run + -er
1. : one capable of running
the cheetah is the fastest runner of all animals
: racer
2.
a. : a horse entered in a race
eight runners in the final race of the day
b.
(1) : a cricket batsman attempting to score a run ; specifically : a substitute allowed to run for an injured batsman
(2) : base runner
(3) : a football player in possession of a live ball
c. : a man in backgammon that starts from the opponent's home table
d. : a bird that characteristically runs or scuttles along the ground ; specifically : water rail
e. : a wounded bird that moves fast but cannot fly
f. : a popular fast-selling item of merchandise
3. : one whose occupation requires physical movement from place to place: as
a. : one that delivers messages, reports, materials, or products for a business organization either within the establishment or to outside locations
b. : a police officer or police detective in 18th century London — see bow street runner
c. : one that makes a business of running for things in return for the gratuities received
a runner called a cab for him
d. : commissionaire
e. : a messenger between headquarters of military units especially during action
f. : an agent who accepts, transmits, and pays bets for a numbers game or a bookmaker
g. : one that smuggles or distributes illegal drugs
dope runner
4. : one that operates or manages something:
a. : a workman that operates a carrying vehicle (as in a mine) : dropper
b. : one that operates a machine
c. : a seaman engaged for a short single voyage
d. : the driver of a locomotive
5.
a. : any of various large active carangid fishes: as
(1) : rainbow runner
(2) : blue runner
(3) : leatherjacket 1b
b. Africa : cobia
c. : indian runner
d. : blacksnake 1a
6.
a. : a ship of exceptional speed used for dispatches without convoy
b. : a ship that runs a blockade or carries smuggled goods
c. : runboat
7.
a. : either of the longitudinal pieces on which a sled or sleigh slides
b. : the part of a skate that slides on the ice : blade
c. : skate II 1a
d. : a horizontal longitudinal timber on the top of a scaffold or staging carrying a line of rails (as for a hoisting apparatus) : stringer , stringpiece
e. : the support of a drawer or a sliding door
8.
a. : a growth produced by a plant in running ; usually : stolon 1
b. : a plant that forms or spreads by means of runners
c. : a twining vine — not used technically; see scarlet runner
9.
a. : a rope rove through a single movable block and usually attached to a luff tackle
b. : a backstay running from mast to rail of a sailing ship and adjustable by means of a tackle or lever
10. runners plural , chiefly dialect : the small intestine of a domestic animal
11.
a. : a carpet adapted by its long and narrow shape for extending along a hall or passageway or staircase
b. : a narrow decorative cloth cover for the top of a piece of furniture (as a table, dresser)
12.
a. : the rotating stone of a set of millstones
b. : a movable slab used in grinding or polishing stone or glass
13.
a. : a movable pulley block running on a fall that is fixed at one end
b. : idler wheel
c. : the impeller of a pump
d. : either of the sliding centers of a watchmaker's lathe
e. : a train of wheels for regulating the speed of striking in a repeating watch
f. : the revolving part of a turbine
g. : the driven member of an automotive hydraulic coupling or transmission
h. : a rotary tool for running a nut on a bolt or screw
14.
a. : the sliding piece of an umbrella to which the ribs are attached
b. : a piece bearing a hairline that slides along the outer scale of a slide rule
15. : a channel or trough for conducting molten metal into a mold
16. : run 12a
17. Britain : any of the numbers placed consecutively at the ends of lines of a printed text